


Monster

by Willow_444



Series: Monster AU [1]
Category: EXO (Band), Kpop - Fandom
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Biting, Blood Drinking, Eventual Smut, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, M/M, Monster - Freeform, Murder, OT12 - Freeform, Organ Theft, Psychopath killer, Sexual Tension, Stakes, Vampire Sex, Vampires, but they're vampires so its ok, unhealthy to healthy relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2018-12-25 14:52:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 115,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12038226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_444/pseuds/Willow_444
Summary: Vampires are monsters, predators who lurked in the dark recesses of the world, surfacing briefly to sink their claws into some unsuspecting soul. It has been almost a century since vampires were acknowledged as something real, and now prey hunted predator just as frequently as predator hunted prey. Humans, so intent in their way of survival, have forgotten something crucial. There's a little bit of monster in everyone, even if they didn't have red eyes and fangs.





	1. Mirror Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! :)  
> I'm a sucker for vampire aus... This is going to be a long fic guys buckle up  
> Posting schedule:  
> \- Every friday  
> \- I probably won't stick to this  
> \- BUT I WILL NEVER LEAVE AN UNFINISHED FIC *pinky promise*  
> Enjoy :)  
> 10/6/17 update: I think my beta died.  
> 11/27/17 update: My beta's been revived

Night was the time of day when humans were supposed to fall asleep, recharge, crash out on their beds. They were supposed to close their eyes to the dark, stay at home, and stay safe. They were absolutely not supposed to squeeze into tight clothes and crowd into clubs and bars, squishing together until it all becomes a sweaty mass of bodies, most of them drunk - smashed every which way to hell. Baekhyun joined them, easily sliding in time with the heavy beat of music and the flashing of lights. He was done for the night, luring out an unsuspecting party boy relatively early in the evening. He could still taste him on his lips. It was now past one in the morning and the rest of his coven was just finishing up. Someone tapped his shoulder and Baekhyun turned, eyebrow raised questioningly. Joonmyeon’s styled blonde hair was easy to distinguish from the rest, not that it would have been difficult to see. Their eyesight was better than a human’s anyways.

“Where’s Chanyeol?”

In response to the question, Baekhyun jerked his head in the direction of the side doors, neon colours flashing randomly off the metal. As if on cue, his mate’s lanky frame ducked back into the club, mostly ignored by everyone around him. No one seemed to realise that only one came back when before, two went out.

“Is everyone else done?” Baekhyun picked up on Luhan’s petite form shamelessly leaning all over the place, “Or is Luhan still looking?”

“No, we’re all done. Let’s go - woah, you ok?” Joonmyun caught Baekhyun when he stumbled, peering into his face with concern. “Are you… drunk?”

“Ha ha. Very funny. We can’t get drunk.” Baekhyun trailed off, suddenly becoming aware of an uncomfortable ache behind his eyes.

“Was your meal drunk?” A deep voice made Baekhyun shiver and he leaned back, straight into Chanyeol’s arms. Their hearts didn’t beat, so there wasn’t a way for alcohol to get to them. But when the blood they fed off was saturated with booze…

“I thought he tasted kind of funny.” Baekhyun scrunched up his face in distaste, “Oh nooooo I feel really bad.”

“Let’s get out of here first yeah?” Chanyeol wrapped Baekhyun close to his side, following Joonmyun as he manoeuvred his way through the dancing press of bodies. On the way, they hook Luhan out with them. 

 

The cold breeze swept across Baekhyun's cheeks. It would have felt sharp, stinging against warm skin, but Baekhyun was colder than the autumn air. All seven of them were. His coven melted away from the bright lights of the club, gathering in the shadows. Joonmyun, Yi Fan and Minseok casted uneasy glances around them. 

The police was probably out in force tonight, it was a long weekend after all, hundreds of humans out after sundown to party. Somewhere behind the building headache, Baekhyun heard a click, turning to see Luhan reapply his lipstick. Slightly off to the side, Kyungsoo rolled his eyes at Luhan’s antics.

“We’ll meet up tomorrow night?” Joonmyun, caring as ever, waved them goodbye before flitting off into the darkness, “Be careful going home.”

Right on his heels, Yi Fan sent a quick goodbye nod and disappeared. Minseok hesitated before parting.

“The AVPF are more active than usual, seriously kids, be careful.” Their oldest coven member vanishes into the night as well, running to catch up with Yi Fan and Joonmyun.

“Pfft.” Luhan snorted, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Ahhhh yes, the Anti-Vampire Police Force. They’re so bad at their job they should permanently change their names to sucker cops.”

“Don’t eat your own words Lu.” Kyungsoo started to walk away, his own nest quite some distance further than everyone else’s. “They’ve caught and staked heaps of us before.”

“Yeah yeah Soo.” Luhan managed to stick his tongue out before Kyungsoo got out of sight. He tugged up his hoodie, bleached hair flattening, and turned to Baekhyun and Chanyeol. “Get home safe you two.” Then he too, melted away. 

 

You’d think than after discovering the existence of _vampires_ of all things, humans would take more caution. Don’t go out at night, don’t stay in dodgy areas after sundown, always go out with friends, keep silver on you at all times, etc. But nothing can stop young blood and the sweet taste of rebellion, so the bars and clubs are always full to the brim, barely-turned-legal boys and girls determined to party all night long. However strong and courageous one pretends to be (misguided as it was), not one of them strayed more than a metre from the shining disco lights, hugging brick walls washed with the glow of street lamps if they ever felt the need for fresh air. It was a common misconception, one that Baekhyun’s spinning mind found incredibly amusing, setting him off on a fit of giggles. Light didn’t hurt or burn them, it just made them weaker, sluggish, more human than they were by night. In fact, that’s how Baekhyun felt, feet stumbling after his brain. He’s still giggling.

“Channie the moons are so pretty.”

“Baek, those’re the stars.” Chanyeol tucks Baekhyun under his arm, equal parts exasperated and fond. “You need to pick more carefully next time, I can’t bring you home wasted every time we feed.”

“But we go hunting in _clubs_.” Baekhyun slumped against the taller, voice muffled in his shirt. “All the humans are drunk there.”

“ _I’m_ not drunk.”

“ _I_ am drunk.” Suddenly standing straight, Baekhyun declares loudly, “But I’m FINE.”

“Oh my god your words are slurring everywhere.”

“I don’t caaaaare.”

“C’mon, let’s get you home.” Chanyeol huffed, bringing his lover close again as they head away from the club lights.

 

They flew down darkened streets laughing, revelling in the exhilarating experience of speeds even bullet trains had to sweat to reach. The city scape flashed past, so fast it should have been replaced by a blur, but everything presented itself in stark detail to their crimson gaze. Perks of being a vampire. Halfway back home, Baekhyun was aggressively side-tracked, locked in a snarling standoff with one of the house’s dogs. Somehow, all the hissing had Baekhyun breaking down in another fit of snickering, not stopping even when Chanyeol looked down with a bemused expression.

“I need to get you drunk more.”

“Yesh.” Baekhyun had started squishing his face with his hands, making the most ridiculous expressions at the dog. He was completely oblivious to the obviously hostile audience; animals had a decent scent of smell and absolutely _despised_ vampires. The beginnings of a grin pulled at the corners of Chanyeol’s mouth,

“Maybe we should get a -” Suddenly the two of them stilled, a new scent slicing up their nose, sour and metallic, and the soft buzz of an engine brushed their ears. Immediately they sprinted down a nearby alley, albeit Baekhyun a little wobbly, and flattened themselves against the side. Lights swung onto the road they were on - a patrol car? The taller had Baekhyun protectively shielded behind him, but he didn’t need to see to know about the name ‘AVPF’ printed boldly on the car doors. The sucker cops were armed to the teeth with their stakes and nets - the scent of silver was so strong. Probably a couple of guns. They stopped breathing. The patrol passed.

“Is it coming back?”

“… No.” Chanyeol said, pausing an extra beat before they continue, pace more urgent. “Minseok was so right -” He was cut off abruptly when a strong beam of light flicked on. They froze like rabbits, caught in the sudden glare. “Fuck, run!”

 

His drunkenness certainly wasn’t helping, and after a second of struggling Chanyeol wordlessly scooped Baekhyun into his arms.

“D’you think this was random or a planned hit?” Baekhyun’s words tripped over themselves, his world reduced to the gentle rocking of Chanyeol’s arms and scent.

“Must be random.” Chanyeol skidded around a corner, doubling back on another street. “If they knew where our nest was, they’d already be there.”

Out of nowhere, the bang of a gunshot rips through the silence. Baekhyun could feel Chanyeol’s pace stutter, then speed up, a curse muttered into his hair.

“Chanyeol!”

“Shhh, it’s ok I’m fine.” By now he’s pelting down the pavement as fast as he can, leaving behind faint shouts. Curiously, there weren’t any more shots fired.

“Have we lost them?” Baekhyun shifts in Chanyeol’s hold, peering over his shoulder.

“Yep, easy. Piece of cake. If they really wanted a chase they’d get faster cars.” And for some reason, this set Baekhyun off on another helpless fit of drunken giggles.

 

“Almost home…” Chanyeol slowed, making a loop around the apartment block in which they stayed. Nothing seemed amiss.

“Put me dooooown Channie.” Baekhyun wriggled impatiently, ““ChanChaaaan. YeolYeeooool - ahahahaha -” Somehow, they made it inside, warmth replacing cool wind. Instead of using the elevator, Chanyeol went down the stairs to the basement, settling Baekhyun down to pout on hard concrete flooring whilst his hands brushed over the walls. His fingers dipped into a slight notch, then he pushed. A narrow section of the wall split open. Ignoring Baekhyun’s protests, Chanyeol once again gathered the small vampire up and carried him into their nest. The hidden door closed silently behind them.

“Baek, c’mon, five more metres - there you go.” Baekhyun was toppled onto bed, immediately rolling around and cuddling his face into the sheets, breathing in their mixed scents, familiar and comforting. However, a new tang cut through his drunken haze, sharp and sweet. Blood.

“Chanyeol, you said you didn’t get hurt.” He pawed at the other, fruitlessly looking for the source of smell, and ended up dragging them both into a tangled mess on the bed.

“I’m fine Baek, see look -” Chanyeol pulled his shoulder around enough for Baekhyun to see a shallow graze glaring angrily through the fabric. “It’s just a scratch.” And of course, dazed and not completely in his right mind, Baekhyun ducked down to lick at the wound. A hand to his forehead pushed him off, accompanied by a fond sigh,

“Ok wow, you’re so drunk. Woah, woah! Don’t fall asleep yet, at least let me get this makeup off you…”

 

With some effort, Chanyeol managed to manhandle Baekhyun to sit still in front of the sink. Baekhyun squinted hard at the mirror balanced precariously between the wall and the sink tap.

“Yeol, why do we have a mirror?” He looked up when Chanyeol came back, towels in hand. Vampires were ‘creatures of the dark’, and all that meant light didn’t attract to them normally. All of their reflections were hazy and indistinct. If one was lucky, they’d be able to make out a nose, maybe a bit of mouth, but that would be it. Same with photographs. There’s a reason why they preferred paintings and sketches.

“The mirror looks nice in the bathroom…” Chanyeol dabbed at the kohl ringing Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Ah the values of aesthetics.” Now make-up free, Baekhyun leaned closer, trying to make out any hint of his facial features in the reflective glass and sighs when all he could see was a blurry mass. “I wish I could see.”

“You don’t have to see, you’re perfect.” Chanyeol smiled as he pressed his lips to Baekhyun’s hair, “If you saw, your ego would explode.”

“Thank god neither of us can see then, I was just thinking the same for you.” He pushed back gently, falling into a set of long arms that wrapped around him, and stifled a yawn. Chanyeol isn’t deceived.

“Ok bedtime, you need to sleep off the bad blood.”

“Nawwww.”

 

“Your ears are cute.”

“What?” A burst of incredulous laughter.

“Your ears. Are big. And cute.” Baekhyun reached up to poke at them, his aim a little skewed. “Your eyes are round and when you smile, your top teeth show more than your bottom ones.”

“Baek?” The sheets rustled as Chanyeol turned to look, “You ok?”

“Aish.” Baekhyun suddenly sits up straight, blankets pooling around him. “I’m being a mirror.”

“What.”

“Your mirror. Me. I’m your mirror.” With a contented sigh, Baekhyun patted his mate’s chest and plops back down onto the bed, arms crossed under his chin. Chanyeol laughed again, deep voice pulling at Baekhyun’s heart. It has been more than five decades and that voice will always be the same, will always start that warm feeling in his chest. If his cheeks could still blush, if his heart was still beating, if his breath could still quicken, then it would have. But it didn’t matter because Chanyeol knew; they’ve been together so long.

“Ok then, mirror mirror on the wall, what canst thou see?”

“Hmmmmm, your nose is kinda flat around here.” Baekhyun let his fingers trail between the other’s eyes, “But it crinkles when you grin. Straight eyebrows.”

“As straight as Yi Fan’s?” They snickered.

“Nah, they round off around the edges, but they’re like, really broad.” The fingers were back, stroking softly. The delicate touches curled into Chanyeol’s hair. “Your hair looks super soft.”

“Mmm?”

“The one painting we have does you great injustice.” He sniffed, miffed. “Doesn’t catch your skin tone quite right.” Chanyeol caught his hand before he can take it back, pressing light kisses to his knuckles.

“I totally agree with the paintings bit, no one gets your eyes right either.”

“Ooooooh tell me more.”

“They’re droopy around the corners.” Smirking, Chanyeol prodded playfully. “There’s a twinkle in them even the best painter can’t capture.”

“Ah, that might just be our inherent bloodlust sparkling in my beautiful pupils.”

“Wow, way to ruin the moment.”

“No! Keep going!” Baekhyun whined and burrowed closer.

“Your lips are thin, actually wait, your mouth is really small. Until you smile and everything goes all boxy.”

“What on earth does boxy mean?”

“I dunno. Sometimes it’s hard to look at you directly. Your smile is so bright it’s like the sun.”

“Ohhhhh my god.” Baekhyun groaned, shoving away from his mate. “You’ve officially killed it, too cheesy. Wee-oo-wee-oo I need an ambulance that was disgusting.” This time when Chanyeol laughed, Baekhyun could feel vibrations through his own chest. God, that voice was deep.

“Go to sleep Baekhyun, when you wake up, you should be decently sober.”

“Ok, ok.” Baekhyun curved up to plant a kiss on Chanyeol’s lips, missing completely and ending up somewhere under his chin. “Gnight. Morning. Whatever.” Chanyeol just bent down, surrounding Baekhyun in a protective embrace.

“Sleep well.”

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure they’re here?”

“I’m absolutely positive Jongin, like ninety-nine-percent.” It was almost twelve o’clock in the afternoon and Kim Jongdae has had approximately zero hours of sleep, spending the whole of last night with his squad tracking down a pair of leeches running around their zone. “Tao saw them go in.”

“He and Yixing better come back quickly if we want a shot at catching them.” Grumpy with lack of sleep, Jongin’s sentence trailed off into a yawn, the youngest member of their squad stretching out languidly on a bench. The vamps inside haven’t come out all day and Yixing and Tao had been running rounds, making sure there weren’t any other exits. No sooner had they been mentioned did the two scouters make a reappearance, jogging lightly back around the corner of the block.

“We couldn’t find any exits or vents out of the place. They must be sleeping.” Tao had barely broken a sweat, eyes still alert and wary. Nothing less would be expected of AVPF’s best fighter. “Do you think they’re injured? One was carrying the other before.”

“What could possibly incapacitate a vampire so badly?” Yixing plopped down next to Jongin, his mind immediately jumping to all the medical possibilities. “I don’t think they’d been sighted by other squads.”

“Injured or not, a leech is a leech.” Jongdae scowled, his hand straying unconsciously to the stake strapped onto his thigh, hidden beneath jackets to ward off the cold. “Are we going or what?”

“Shouldn’t we confirm with Minseok first?” Jongin rubbed the tiredness from his eyes, “He was off on his break last night.”

“What does Minseok do at night anyways?” Yixing had that zoned-out expression plastered across his face, “He never tells us.”

“Do we really need to know? He’s our captain.” Jongdae felt irritation bubble up in reaction to the questions directed at his mentor. “We can tell him when we’ve caught them.”

“Alright alright.” Tao’s tone was only slightly mollifying, “How are we going to do this?”

“They’re probably hiding out in the basement somewhere so we’ll start there.”

 

“Found it.” Jongin grunted, pulling away from the wall, the hollow sound of his tapping revealing a hidden space. “How do we open this?”

“There should be something around - there we go.” Smirking triumphantly, Jongdae’s fingers stopped at the bump in the smooth surface. “Ready?” Tao and Jongin came up to flank him whilst Yixing stayed further back, the smooth black surface of his gun glinting. The leeches were bound to wake up (if they weren’t awake already). But Jongdae wasn’t expecting for the hidden door to swing open by itself, even before he activated the switch. He definitely wasn’t expecting the strong grip around his neck, red eyes much too close to his own. Then his feet left the ground. A few moments of weightlessness, the world spinning around him and an impact that jarred his spine. When did he get all the way across the room? Tao reacted first, stake flashing in a deadly silver arc at the tall vampire in their midst. It dodged back, further into its hideout and shouted something like,“ _Baek hurry!_ ”

Then Yixing’s gun went off with a bang and everything went to hell. There’s a deep snarling coming from behind the tall vampire, rising in pitch until a more petite figure comes pelting out the doorway. It slammed viciously into Jongin, raking his claws at Tao’s neck. Somehow, Jongdae got his feet back under him and pulled Yixing back, taking his own swipe at their taller target. Both were wearing generic black masks, everything under their eyes was invisible. Just as quickly as the violence exploded, it receded, the two vampires flashing up the stairs. Tao groaned, “It’s daytime, they’ll be slow. We may still catch them.” May. _May_ … May was never good enough for Jongdae, but he’ll do what he can to dig his stake into a leech’s heart.

“Then let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

“Chanyeol!”

“Let’s head to Luhan’s, he’s the closest.” Chanyeol gritted his teeth, pressing a hand to the hole in his arm. “We’ll never make it much farther in daylight.”

“Chanyeol we need to get the silver out of your arm.” He just shook his head,

“Got it out already, didn’t make it that far.”

“My god, did the sucker cops follow us all the way back?” This time it wasn’t drunkenness that slowed them down but sunlight. Their joints were sluggish under the brightness, scents weaker to their nose and sounds quieter to their ears. Still stronger than humans by a long shot, but it was more than uncomfortable.

“They seemed like a veteran squad, must’ve had a lot of kills.” Long strides matching with Baekhyun’s quick steps, Chanyeol swore vehemently to himself. He really should have double-checked everything before going to sleep. By now they were more than a kilometre away, dodging out of humans’ sight every once in a while.

 

Exerting so much energy in broad daylight was utterly exhausting, and by the time they’re scaling down the rungs to Luhan’s underground hideout, Baekhyun is tempted to flop and let gravity decide things. Instead, he leaeds on Chanyeol, both of them stumbling to a maintenance door. You would never suspect it to lead to Luhan’s well-furnished hideout. Chanyeol’s knuckles rapped on the rusted surface, tinny and jangling. It took longer than usual for their friend to open up, and when he did, his usually perfect hair was in a mess, angelic face droopy with sleep.

“Guys. What the fuck. The sun’s still up.” Well, Luhan’s face never matched his mouth.

“Sucker cops tracked us down, we need a place to stay.”

“Shit, did they follow you?” Baekhyun only rolled his eyes at the stupid question,

“If they did you’d be staked by now, can we come in?”

“Alright mister feisty, get your ass in here.”

 

* * *

 

When the phone rang, Joonmyun just _knew_ something was wrong.

“Oh god, who’s calling?” Messy hair and half-closed eyes, Yi Fan popped his head into Joonmyun’s room. There wasn’t movement from Minseok’s side of their nest, he must have already left for his… work.

“It’s Luhan, hang on a second.” Joonmyun swiped at his screen, “Hello? Luhan what’s wrong?”

“Well, technically I haven’t said anything’s wrong yet but yeah. Chanyeol and Baekhyun are staying over at my place for now.” It wasn’t on speaker, but Yi Fan could hear just fine from the doorway. Joonmyun could see his brow crinkle in a frown,

“Why?”

“Sucker cops tracked them last night, didn’t seem to find their hideout. But this morning they swept their apartment block and almost caught them.”

Joonmyun’s undead heart almost restarted in his dread, “Are they hurt?”

“Nope, they’re fine.” A pause. “Is Min there?”

“Minseok already left for work…”

“Joonmyun, it’s getting too dangerous for him to work like that!” They could almost see Luhan bite his lip and pinch his nose. “I get that he’s bored, but playing around as a sucker cop is gonna get him killed.”

“We’ll talk to him when we meet up tonight.”

“Uh, I have a night shift at my job today so I’ll be a little late.”

“And you accuse Minseok of working dangerously.” Yi Fan muttered. Apparently, Luhan picked up on it.

“For fuck’s sake I work at a BUBBLE TEA SHOP.” A long drawn-out sigh exploded from the phone. “Anyways, I’ll catch you guys after my shift.” He hung up.

“I’m going to catch another hour or two more of sleep.” Yi Fan shuffled off and Joonmyun heard the ruffle of sheets. Too tense and worried to relax, Joonmyun got ready for the day - night - whatever. He’s supposed to be on vacation from his business manager job, but he’ll check his emails anyways. On a second thought, he sent a quick text to Kyungsoo:

_Did you get home safe?_

It wasn’t a minute before a reply flashed on the screen,

 _Yes. Luhan already called. I’m sleeping._ Smiling at the stunted, grumpy sentences, Joonmyunn typed back several smiley faces and,

_See you tonight!_

 

* * *

 

“What do you mean you guys are busy tonight?” Lips turned down in irritation, Sehun hissed viciously into his phone. “Tao, you guys are working EVERY night. Will it hurt to have one peaceful, vamp-free break?”

“Woah wait hear us out.” His best friend’s voice pleaded, “We’ll roll around to visit you at like 1am?”

“Dude I’m _working_.”

“Exactly. Bubble tea discounts?” Sehun sighed, defeated. No one can stand up against pouty, whiny Tao for long, even on the phone.

“Fine.”

“Also you can introduce us to your cute fuck buddy.”

“He’s NOT MY -”

“Ok ok whatever you say Sehun, we’ll see you soon!”

 

* * *

 

As soon as Tao hung up, the rest of the squad jumped back into their previous discussion, to tell or not to tell Minseok about that afternoon’s… incident?

“Dude, he _told_ us to be careful and not pull any stunts.”

“Tao, chill.”

“No Jongdae I’m not going to chill.” Their best fighter threw his hands up in agitation, “We were supposed to call in another team but we didn’t. We were supposed to report in first and we didn’t. The least we could do was catch the vamps, _but we didn’t_.”

“We’ll just not tell him then.” Jongin shrugged from his spot on the table, perched on the corner whilst the others paced around him. “Also not so loud, you’ll wake up Xing.” Yixing was snoozing gently, arms folded under his chin. The entire sleepless night, plus the fight, plus the 24 hour shift he had at the hospital before all this shit went down had taken a toll on their team medic. Jongdae agreed whole-heartedly with the decision for secrecy. If there was anything in his life worse than a leech, it would be Kim Minseok’s disappointed gaze.

“Ok then, all in favour?” Unnoticed behind all of them, a figure slipped through the door to their meeting room. “No telling Minseok.”

“No telling me what?” Jongin yelped and fell off the table at the new voice. Tao tripped over his feet. Jongdae locked up guiltily in his seat and Yixing blinked sleepily.

“Good morning Minseok.” In fact, it should be 'good evening'.

“How much sleep did you get last night Xing?” Their squad captain peered worriedly down at the prone medic. He didn’t look up, but Jongdae winced as his next words sliced through him. “I get that you wanted to take down the vampires you tracked, but some self-preservation would be nice.”

“Min-”

“Also Taemin already ratted you guys out.” Jongin, Jongdae and Tao wilt under his glare. “I take a break for one night and you’re already haring off target.” When silence met his reprimand, Minseok sighed.

“Forget about it ok? We have another mission.”

 

If it was anyone else telling Jongdae to control himself, he would’ve snapped back. He would do whatever the fuck he wanted, thank you very much, especially when it came to vampires. But this was Minseok, and his lecture stung when it should have irritated him.

“Jongdae you ok?” Minseok’s gaze met his, concerned, and he just smiled it off. He can’t help but melt a little at the pair of wide cat eyes that passed over his face. Then he remembered the way disapproval swam in them just minutes before. Jongdae shrank that much more.

“I’m fine.”

“Everyone needs to be on their toes tonight.” Minseok slid gracefully into the chair next to Jongdae and Jongdae had to force himself to concentrate - not on the way Minseok’s strong arms come to rest on the table - but on the mission briefing. “AVPF wants us to scout out an underground feeding ring.”

“I thought we stamped out those rings ages ago.” Tao finally stopped his pacing, sitting down with disbelief etched on his features. “Didn’t we flush over two dozen vampires and their feeders?” Jongdae’s mouth twisted in a grimace. Feeders. Humans who offered their blood in exchange for money. From what records AVPF could track, it was a considerable sum. But letting a _vampire_ do that to you… Jongdae would never understand. It was illegal to interact with vampires anyways.

“Tao, these sorts of things will keep popping back up, no matter what we do.” Jongin shrugged, “Where exactly is the ring?”

“They change locations every week.” Minseok gently prodded at Yixing, bringing him back to the conscious world. “Just hold out five more minutes Xing. It opens at sundown today behind the night markets downtown.” They all nod, picturing the area in their heads. It was a place renowned for its dark activities, none of them were really surprised.

“Also, Yixing.”

“Mmm?”

“You and Jongdae stay outside, just in case.” Minseok’s tone was adamant. Even so, Jongdae fought past his infatuation to protest.

“Minseok! You can’t -”

“Jongdae if you go in there you’ll start a fight with every single vampire you see.” Their team captain said, not unkindly. “I _know_ you. You won’t be able to help yourself and this is a strictly scouting-only mission. No killing.” There’s a whole argument that died on Jongdae’s lips as soon as Minseok turned and released the devastating power of his cute, flawless face. God fucking dammit. Jongdae sighed,

“Fine.”

 

* * *

 

The beeping of his alarm clock woke him. Kyungsoo groaned, lifting bleary, round eyes to glare at the stupid contraption. 5pm. He had filed notice of absence at his university for today, just so he could catch up on the sleepless night he spent with the rest of his coven. It was a wasted night. Kyungsoo didn’t like to feed off humans like that, so he spent the entirety of last night sticking awkwardly close to Joonmyun or - if the older vampire was unavailable - glaring moodily at the humans surrounding him. He was still desperately thirsty. It was a wonder no one noticed. Kyungsoo rolled out of bed, instantly straightening out the sheets and neatly folding the blanket, and padded to the bathroom.

There weren’t any windows underground, not that he would have wanted any. Light was tolerable, not comfortable. He had the light bulbs removed from the fixtures on the ceiling, his sight was just fine in the dark, and even in the gloom his gaze caught on the blurry mass that stared back at him from the mirror. The piece of metal was sentimental, a part of his human life he struggled to keep, and he couldn’t - and probably will never be able to bring himself to - throw it away. Hair now in an acceptable sweep above his forehead and crisp clothes buttoned over his skin, Kyungsoo gave a quick once over of his game plan for tonight. Go to the night markets, snag a quick meal for himself, get out and return home. Don’t forget to meet with the others. Sleep until his 8am class tomorrow. Easy. At least he thought so until the buzzing of his phone brought forth a wave of irritation.

“What?”

“Soo, this is important.”

“Minseok. It’s five ten in the afternoon and we had a night out. Not all of us are crazy like you.”

“We know you don’t feed when we go out.” Oops. Someone noticed. “Anyways, the feeding ring you go to? There’ll be cops there taking pictures and noting faces.”

“I need to feed, I don’t really think I can hold out another day.” Kyungsoo’s throat burned at the mere thought, “Is it your squad in there?”

“Yes. Two will stay outside, three inside including me.”

“Then it won’t be a problem, there’ll be dozens of feeders there. I probably won’t even see your human buddies.”

“Wait Soo -” He hung up. Just for good measure, Kyungsoo put his phone on flight mode before stalking out the door. Several quick turns and a long climb up the ladder had him standing in the cool evening air. Some humans were still about their business, hurrying home before the sun set and left them stranded in the darkness. The bars and clubs would be open again tonight, but that won’t be where he’ll be heading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ^0^  
> Comments! hit me upppppp  
> If you want to scream at me hit me up [@Willow4448](https://twitter.com/Willow4448?lang=en)


	2. Take a sip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still friday here... I hope its not saturday wherever you guys are

“Jongdae, if you complain one more time I swear I’ll shove your own stake -”

“Ok, ok Mr Huang.” Jongdae shoved playfully at Tao, “But seriously -”

“I think you can survive a night not hunting leeches.” Jongin laughed. The young trio walked a little ahead of Minseok and Yixing, leading the way through the night markets to their target destination.

“Xing, can you text us when you and Jongdae reach your spots?” For a second Minseok was worried for the medic, his head dipped drowsily and there was an airiness to his face, but he had enough energy to nod. They’d gone longer without rest before. It wasn’t a problem for Minseok, but the rest of his squad was human. The squad passed some invisible line, a line that separated mission from play, and they split off into their groups. Jongdae looped his arm with Yixing’s, turning left down the road to circle around. Minseok tracked them carefully until they disappeared behind the crowds of people, the low hum of chatter preventing him from listening to their footsteps. The sun had set less than an hour ago and the night market will be open for hours yet. Tao and Jongin feigned interest in a nearby stall, staying close enough to Minseok so they could hear him speak.

“Alright, they’re in position. Let’s go.”

\---

_I’m not a monster._ Do Kyungsoo thought firmly to himself, even as his thirst burned hot in his throat, mouth heavy with the weight of his fangs. The dizzying aroma of sweet-smelling humans flooding the night markets did nothing to help. It was one of the nicer parts of Seoul, less people going missing by night. The apparent lack of vampire activity made people bold, made them feel safe when in reality, it was just that the sucker cops here were better at covering up the attacks. Sighing in relief, Kyungsoo took the last corner and stopped in front of an innocent stall, filled to the brim with silver trinkets. He stayed far away from those. The lady working the stall - a human - looked up, bored. He could see her eyes widen when he tipped his head and let the red glow of his pupils shine.

“Are you open?”

“Yes… Yes of course we are.” She jumped to her feet, head bowed, and hastily opened a door in the back of the stall. “Right this way. Please leave through one of the back exits.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded as he swept past. Pavement turned to carpet under his feet, the stall was connected to the building behind it, and it opened up into a spacious foyer. There was no one here, but that was to be expected. Familiar with the space, Kyungsoo didn’t think twice as he flitted to the stairwell. He was only halfway down the steps and he could already smell blood, hear the laughter of humans blissed out on vampire venom.

“I’m not a monster.” He whispered to himself one last time. Then he descended into the madness below.

 

Every city had a flip side, an ‘underground’ society that flourished in the darkness along with the creatures they traded with. Organisations piled on each other like a tower, illegal fighting rings, drug rings, prostitution rings… then came the lowest of the low: feeding rings. The humans here were either desperate for money or hooked onto the sweet high only vampires could give. If the ring got busted, whatever humans - they were termed as ‘feeders’ - would be executed alongside the vampires. No exceptions. No contact. No socialising was acceptable with vampires. It was what drove Kyungsoo’s kind to hunt like they did, lounging around late nightclubs and bars in the wee hours of the morning to lead on their unsuspecting prey. Even if the human was left alive and AVPF found out they’d be killed at best and locked away in an asylum for the rest of their life at worst. Why? _Because you’d be crazy to be friends with a vampire._  

Out of his coven, only he and Luhan really frequented the rings. That was, until Luhan started exclusively taking from one special Oh Sehun. The others thought it was too risky. In Kyungsoo’s personal opinion, the probability of getting caught was the same whether he was paying for blood or taking it by force. This ring was so far the best in terms of secrecy with a small pool of feeders who changed every time they picked up and moved to another place. If you were judging by the feeders themselves, they were the same in all of them. Stick thin, sickly and pale. So Kyungsoo was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful, obviously healthy, man fidgeting in the cluster of feeders. The main room branched off down corridors, into private rooms and niches for any vampires to bring their meal for the night. Through the walls came a lot of sounds that Kyungsoo tried to block out. Why on earth some vampires liked to play with their food in that way, he didn’t want to know. He gave his surroundings a quick once-over, Minseok didn’t seem to be here yet with his squad of cops, so Kyungsoo strolled up leisurely and hooked up that one enticing human by the back of his shirt. The human jolts, startled.

“What’s your name?” Kyungsoo made his intentions perfectly clear, dipping down so his mouth brushed slowly down the human’s neck. He felt warm muscles tense under his touch.

“K-Kai.” Wow, pretty looks AND pretty voice. Kyungsoo smirked,

“Come with me, Kai.”

\---

“Where the fuck did Jongin go!?”

“Tao, keep it quiet.” Minseok had been reluctant leaving Jongin alone, it was his presence that kept other vampires from taking them as feeders after all. His eyes scanned through the feeders thoroughly. He shouldn’t be too worried, they'd all gotten bitten before on scouting missions like these. It’s only after three meticulous sweeps that Minseok started to panic. Jongin. Wasn’t. There.

“Minseok, should we go after him?” Tao kept his voice at a low murmur, but even that wasn’t enough to cover the buzz of anxiety in his tone. The cop’s hand jumped to his thigh where his silver stake should be strapped. Except this was a strictly ‘no-fighting’ assignment and they’d been forced to leave it behind. The missing weight set his nerves on edge. Giving up on what he could see, Minseok closed his eyes. Jongin’s scent disappeared down a corridor… along with Kyungsoo’s. He relaxed.

“Thirty minutes. If he doesn’t come out by then we’ll go after him.”

“Thirty -!” He clapped his hands over his mouth when Minseok glared.

“Tao, Jongin can handle himself.  If we kick up a fuss there’s more than a dozen vampires who will rip us to bits. Jongin will be fine.”

\---

Jongin was absolutely _not_ fine. Minseok and Tao leave for five minutes and this vampire walked in the next, whisking him down shadowy corridors. As he walked he tried to count the doors, count the turns. Somewhere down the line another leech comes flitting across the carpeted floors. Jongin only caught a flash of its features, but he noted them down. He didn’t recognise it; he’d log it into AVPF’s data base later.

“Kai…” He jolted, almost forgetting to react to his cover name. The short vampire held a door open for him, eyebrow raised expectantly. Jongin’s heart clenched anxiously when he passed the threshold. Maybe it was just him but the sound of the door clicking shut sounded more ominous than it should.

“You seem terribly jumpy for a feeder.”

“I don’t do this often.” That was the truth at least.

“Do you remember the rules?” That mouth was dangerously close to Jongin’s throat. The undercover cop swallowed.

“I need to give you permission.” Just like vampires needed invitations to enter homes, they required consent to feed. It sounded easy to survive, just don’t let random people into your house and don’t say ‘bite me.’ The whole arrangement was nullified by the leeches’ ability for hypnosis.

“That’s right.” The vampire’s breath ghosted across his skin. When it looked up, Jongin focused between its eyes. They could only cast mirages through direct eye contact and from then on, you’d follow every single word they said. All humans who had been - or is/are currently - under the influence of a vampire’s mirage, can and will be quarantined until further notice. No exceptions. No alternative was acceptable. Even if you were a cop. _Especially_ if you were a cop. Having someone under the complete control of a vampire wouldn’t work very well in fights.

“May I feed from you Kai?” It’s tone was polite.

“M-may I ask your name first?” To Jongin’s surprise, the vampire laughed, lips pulling over blunt teeth to form a heart.

“My name is D.O.”

“That can’t be your real - ah!” In seconds, Jongin found himself pinned to the mattress, cold hands holding him down on the sheets. He stared, wide-eyed, at the creature above him. Humanity fell off his face like old paint, eyes sharpening to red, and his limbs flowed smoothly, quickly and with a grace Jongin had only ever associated with _vampire_.

 

“I hardly believe Kai is your real name either.” The vampire - D.O. - frowned down at him, the first hint of impatience appearing on his brow.

“If I said no, would you take me anyways?” They stared at each other. Jongin purposefully looked away.

“I could bend you to my will.” D.O.’s face softened, “But that would defeat the purpose of my coming here. I am not a monster, Kai. I have no wish to condemn a human to imprisonment or kill someone just for my hunger.”

“So you won’t?” As soon as the question slipped out, Jongin bit the inside of his cheek. His disbelief was very evident and more than a little rude. D.O. just flashed a tight smile.

“I won’t if you don’t want to.” That was not what Jongin expected at all. It wasn’t unusual for cops to disguise as feeders to interact with the other kind and from what Jongin experienced, no vampire ever tried to keep up a decent conversation. It was all for the blood after all. But one quick bite in here was better than a body going cold on the streets. Even if the victim was left alive, the one quick bite Jongin has to endure was a much better than being locked away in some asylum for the rest of your life because of a mirage.

“Yes.”

D.O. cocked his head. “Yes what?”

“You can feed.”

 

_Vampire!_ His mind screamed in protest as two razor sharp pricks replaced flat teeth. He could see how horrified Jongdae would be. He kept still, taut as a bowstring until a velvety voice distracted him.

“Relax Kai.” Then there were soft lips against his own and every coherent thought in Jongin’s head flew out the window. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when those fangs slid deep into his skin, but he _could_  recall the feeling that spread from the bite. Warm and buzzing, the sensation rushed through his bloodstream, from the tips of his fingers to the bottom of his toes. Dimly, he noticed how he’d arched up to the vampire’s touch. Whatever panic he had dissipated.

_Vampire…_ His mind squeaked weakly. Someone was moaning. Probably him. It shocked Jongin to know that he didn’t care. Because _damn_ , vampire venom. A breathless laugh brought him back to earth in a sweaty, panting mess.

“Did you like that?” There was red smeared over D.O.’s smirking lips. Those lips had felt nice. He wanted them again. So he curved up to slot their mouths together, licking himself off the vampire’s fangs. 

 

* * *

 

“Jongin please.”

“Please?”

“ _Jongin._ ” Tao was this close to breaking down the goddam door. “Jongin, you need to unlock this door.”

No answer.

“Minseok, what’s wrong with him?”

“Probably vampire venom.” Minseok groaned inwardly, Kyungsoo always had an unusually strong effect on humans. “Jongin! Can you hear us?”

“Hahaha -”

“Jongin god help us we will break this door down.”

Silence. Tao slammed a foot into the wood. The lock clicked. The door swung open and Tao rushed in, ending up with an armful of high, loopy Jongin.

“The vampire was nice.”

“What!?”

“He left me food.” Jongin smiled blissfully up at Tao, “He said eating helps with blood loss.”

“He? Who is he?”

“D.O.”

“D.O?”

“D.O.” Jongin nodded seriously. Minseok fought a smile; his coven had picked random names for each other some time back. Good to see it going to use. Tao gingerly set his dazed friend onto the bed, noticing for the first time a band aid pressed neatly to the junction between his shoulder and neck. What type of vampire gave aftercare?

“Tao, we need to get him out of here. Jongdae and Xing should be waiting out back.”

“Help me carry him?”

\---

Jongdae watched Yixing’s droopy eyes snap open at a metallic clank. Almost too fast for them to register, a shadow slipped past the backdoor and melted into the night, away from the night markets. It didn’t pay attention to them, cap pulled down over its features. They were just humans after all. Jongdae’s grip tightens on the handle of his stake and they share a glance.

“Could you identify him?” Yixing kept his voice low.

“No, too fast. Maybe one of the others managed to get a good look at him.” And with that, they return to their silent vigil.

 

“Xing, they’re out. Something’s wrong with Jongin.” They started to jog, melting away from their positions in the shadows.

“What the fuck happened?” Jongdae worked with Tao, gently propping the woozy Jongin between them. Fingers gentle and probing, Yixing peeled off the band aid, prodding at the bite and frowning when Jongin hummed and leaned into his touch.

“He got bitten.” Minseok rubbed his eyes. He really needed to tell Kyungsoo to lay off on the venom, Jongin’s reaction was extreme. “It should work out of his system in an hour or two.”

“Did… Did the leech put a mirage on him?” Tao’s stomach turned at the thought. If his fears were true, Jongin would get kicked out of his job and put in ‘hospital’.

“No.” Yixing held open Jongin’s eyes, “He isn’t under any hypnotic influences -”

“Hip-know-tick, ahahaha…”

“Oh jesus he’s so out of it.” Jongdae groaned, moving to pick the younger cop.

“I didn’t expect that to feel so nice.” Jongin’s happy sigh fell on horrified ears. Tao watched Jongdae stiffen.

“Jongdae, he’s not himself.” The cop only grunted in acknowledgement before walking away.

“Let’s get back to headquarters. We need to file our report.”

* * *

 

In the wrong part of town, a shop opened this late at night was either dealing in drugs, slaves, vampires or something equally illegal. But Oh Sehun had managed to snag himself a shitty apartment in the right side of the city, and in the right part of town, humans locked themselves in after dark, unless the night markets were open that day. If Sehun wasn’t so hell bent on raking up the cash, he too would be huddled in bed. Instead, he was huddled at the counter of a bubble tea shop, bored out of his wits. Well, he _was_ bored, until his super-hot co-worker breezed into the room. Angelic face and petite stature, Luhan’s smirk sent Sehun reeling.

“You’re early.”

“I’m not. You’re just late.” Sehun forced down the flush threatening to bloom across his cheeks.

“Naw, don’t be so uptight Hun.” Luhan’s shit-eating grin could only mean one thing; Sehun was red as a tomato. “Just make it past this shift.”

“Oh? Then what?” Sehun leaned over the counter, engrossing himself with rearranging the display. Luhan can’t quite stop the ruby glint in his eyes. The first time Sehun met that gaze, he was a year younger, homeless and desperate for money. So desperate, he found himself in a feeding ring, trembling in his seat as vampires plucked through the feeders around him like a pelican would scoop fish from the sea. After a memorable night with a rather possessive vampire, Sehun found himself exclusively ‘working’ with Luhan. It was illegal, sure. But he wasn’t guilty for what he did.

“Don’t be a tease.” The vampire grumbled, pulling the cute orange apron of their uniform over his head.

“We’re going to have customers tonight.” Trying to busy his hands, Sehun floundered with a blender, plugging and unplugging it several times. “My friends are coming in.” He jumped when the vampire’s lithe body presses up against his back, not with fear but with longing. God he was so fucked. Literally.

“Ahhh the little uni kids are coming in -”

“Not my normal uni friends.” Sehun turned to look at Luhan, saw his lips purse.

“Oh. Then I suppose I can’t do this can I?” Fangs pricked at Sehun’s skin, digging tantalisingly. Sehun bats away his clingy vampire.

“After the shift remember?”

 

An hour later and Sehun was once again bored out of his mind.

“You have that creepy smile on your face again.”

“I may or may not be thinking about something that you probably don’t wanna know about.” The same superior smirk plastered all over his face, Luhan restocked the plastic straws. Bent over at the counter to arrange the various rows of meticulously decorated cakes, a playful pinch to his butt almost had Sehun face-planting into the display.

“Luhan!”

“Sehun!” Luhan parroted. “Do up your scarf a bit more, I can see my bite marks.”

“Ohhh my god this is going to be the worst night of my life.”

“I think I can make it one of your best.”

“Please don’t drop creepy lines like that when they come.”

“You’ll come.”

“Luhan…”

“Ok, ok I promise.”

“I don’t want them to find out -” Sehun licked his lips nervously. Jongdae, Tao and Jongin were amongst his best friends. Jongdae, Tao and Jongin were also cops. Tao was born and bred for his job, his entire family ran the company known as AVPF. Before the worldwide acknowledgment of vampires, Tao’s family worked as hunters, killing their targets in secrecy. Jongin was as good as a brother to Tao, being adopted and brought up in his family. And Jongdae… Jongdae despised vampires. He’d never asked. Considering how Jongdae had no parents and basically lived in AVPF’s headquarters, it wasn’t hard to figure out why.

“I don’t want to get staked so don’t worry.” Luhan scoffed, “You deal with them and I’ll just hang around behind here.”

“They think you’re my boyfriend.” The thought was ludicrous, a fantasy Sehun had crushed himself in the first month with this vampire. Ludicrous… but still nice in a way.

“We’re not.”

“Yeah but if anyone asks you weird suggestive questions don’t snarl at them.”

“Fuck you.” Luhan pulled his lips back and snarled. Sehun laughed and turned away only to spin a full circle to face Luhan again.

“Wait, do I need to invite Minseok in again?”

“Nah, you’ve let him come in once so the building’s open for him.” Luhan said. “I don’t have to ask the manager to get in everyday do I? Anyways, it’s a public place. The weird magic shit that keeps us out is stretched across dozens of people who have the right to invite, so it’s not so repelling. Even if you didn’t invite him the first time, Minseok could probably just grit his teeth and walk in.”

“Wait… so can I take the invitation back?” Sehun was curious, there wasn’t anything on the internet about this kind of thing. You weren’t supposed to invite vamps in the first place.

“Yeah, but you have to really _mean_ it.” Luhan shrugged, “If you still feel ok with having him in, the invitation still stands.”

“Do you know why you guys can’t do all this weird shit? If I waved a garlic in your face you’d shred it to pieces.”

“Are you shitting me? The smell of the herb _destroys_ my nose I tell you.”

“But why?”

“Why are you so curious…” The conversation derailed into snappy comments, both workers moving around each other to do their jobs, restocking foods and making sure the counters stayed spotlessly clean.

 

* * *

 

Jongin felt disgusting. His neck ached. He couldn’t clench his fist properly and Jongdae wasn’t looking at him. As soon as the squad arrived back at AVPF headquarters, they had split for reports, leaving Jongin and Yixing quietly in the medic bay. Every time he closed his eyes, the soreness of the bite grew as if D.O. still had his fangs buried deep inside him. Jongin shivered violently, standing up and making his way to the change rooms. Maybe another shower would help. A gentle touch stopped him, led him back to sit on a bed.

“Jongin, breathe.”

“Xing I -”

“It’s ok Jongin.” Yixing let Jongin lean into him, curling up on his chest. It used to weird the others out, Minseok would always be especially jumpy when Jongin got too close, but Jongin was an affectionate person. Feeling sad? Hug. Happy about anything? Snuggles. Scared? Cuddles.

“No, Xing I -” Jongin bit his lip, trying to string his thoughts together. “I don’t think I’m good for scouting.”

“Why?” Yixing’s eyes were sharp and dark, so different from his sleepy sweetness. That gaze was Dr Zhang Yixing, not the dimpled older brother figure Xing. Jongin knew if there was anyone he could talk to without instantly landing his ass in an asylum for the insane, it would be Yixing.

“I didn’t have a problem with them feeding off me, not like Jongdae does. It’s either going to be me or some poor guy out enjoying his night at the club or something. But…”  
Yixing kept silent, patiently letting the younger man gather his thoughts.

“Yixing I find myself _liking_ it.” Silence. Jongin winced, squirming to get himself away from Yixing only to fall back with a yelp, a strong arm looped around his waist. Words build up in Jongin’s head, the overpowering urge to explain himself threatening to break the dam that was his mouth.

“Xing I -”

“You were intoxicated, and even if you weren’t who cares? Jongin is still Jongin.” Yixing shrugged. “Just don’t say that in front of Jongdae.”

\---

“Dae, are you alright?” Anxious, wide eyes met Jongdae’s and he momentarily forgot all about the report he was supposed to be filing.

“I’m fine.”

“Jongin wasn’t himself, you know that right?” Minseok took the papers from him, neatly filing it away amongst the rest of AVPF’s archives.

“He didn’t mean what he said.”

“I know, I just…” Jongdae rubbed his face furiously, “I can’t believe he let a fucking _leech_ do that to him.”

“He probably didn’t have a choice.” Minseok easily passed the lie. Kyungsoo always gave a choice. “Don’t give him a hard time ok?”

“I wasn’t going to!”

“Dae, I know how you feel about vamp -”

“I said I know!” Jongdae shoved up from his desk, “Let’s go.” He stormed out of the room, completely missing the set of red eyes that followed him sadly out the door.

 

Guilt tripped his heart when Jongin crushed him in a hug, he really hoped that Jongin had been too dazed to pick up on how he acted before.

“Jongin, you alright?”

“If someone asks me that one more time I swear…” The sentence was muffled against his chest. Behind him, Tao gave a tired grin,

“Is everyone still up for bubble tea?”

“Xing, bubble tea will help with blood loss right?” Jongdae didn’t wait for the squad medic to answer before he was guiding Jongin away. The younger man was pale, still unsteady on his feet. He leant tentatively at first, half-expecting Jongdae to pull away again, and sighed in relief when Jongdae stayed. It seemed he was forgiven for whatever he might have said, at least for now.

 

* * *

 

Places that opened so late at night were either stuffed full with rebellious humans, or completely empty. ‘Utopia’ bubble tea shop was one of the latter. When the shop bell tinkled life into the silence, the first thing Jongdae spotted was the stick-thin, stretched-out frame of Oh Sehun.

“Sehun!”

“You guys are fuckin’ late.” Scowling was a good match for Sehun’s face, all intimidating sharp angles and jawline. Too bad the image was already completely ruined by the large quantities of candid photos they had of his goofy, smiling features. “Come in.”

“Sehun, can I have -”

“Shut up and sit down Tao, I already have your orders.”

“Yay!”

“Minseok said he would pay.” Jongin slid his captain a sly smirk, “Right Xing?” With his signature sleepy blink, Yixing lifted his head from the table, stared blankly for a second, then nodded. Minseok felt betrayed.

“No respect for your elders, the lot of you.” He grumbled, already halfway to the till. There’s another worker seated behind the counter. As soon as they make eye-contact, the worker’s eyebrows shoot off his face.

“Sehun your friends are hot.”

“Luhan I told you to keep your creeping to a minimum.” Bubble tea orders in hand, Sehun set them down on the table. Like always, the squad sprawled out on the couch around it, nudging and shoving at each other.

“Ohhhhh so your name is Luhan.” Jongdae had that cheshire grin curling up his lips, “Won’t Sehun get jealous?”

“Nah, no relationship.” Mr Angelic winked, “Friends with benefits only.” Sehun coughed violently then proceeded to shriek when Tao yanked at his scarf,

“TAO!”

“Don’t be so shy Sehun.”

“No no no nononono.” Freed from the cop’s playful grip, Sehun frantically straightened the cloth. “I have integrity.”

“Do you?” Sometimes, Sehun wished he could wipe that smug expression straight off Jongin’s face. He sighed, going to mope next to Luhan, his friend… with benefits, who was also a vampire but shhhhhh. That’s a secret. “Drink your stupid tea.”

 

Thirty minutes of laughter passed, fuelled with sugar and coffee. It was a nice change to the silence and Sehun was relieved at Luhan’s civility, watching him dodge deftly around the cops. Sehun _should_ be reporting him - hell, he shouldn’t be _talking_ to him - but Luhan was a good person. Though it was a loose interpretation of the word ‘person’, Luhan wasn’t _bad_. It was a topic they talked about a lot, sleepy and sated over pillowcases and messy sheets. There were peaceful kinds of everything. Zoned out against Jongdae, Sehun didn’t register the tapping on his shoulder for a couple of seconds. When he did, Luhan’s face was inches from his and pinched with worry. He spotted Minseok’s gaze flash up anxiously.

“Sehun you need to invite -”

“Hello? Can we come in?” The shop bell didn’t tinkle. Almost too low for Sehun to hear, Luhan groaned.

“Goddammit Joon being so polite all the time is gonna score you a stake in the heart.”

* * *

 

When Joonmyun planned to visit Luhan at the bubble tea shop with the rest of the gang, he didn’t mean for the surprise to be unpleasant. He could smell the humans inside along with the tell-tale scent of silver. He didn’t think much about it, everyone wore the metal. Joonmyun was too preoccupied with a hyperactive Baekhyun to pick up on anything else.

“Hello? Can we come in?” He’d barely finished the sentence when Luhan’s dark muttering hits his ears. They didn’t need an invitation for such a public place but it was a polite thing to do. Well, it was very polite a couple of centuries ago and Joonmyun just hadn’t gotten out of the habit.

 

It was only when the five of them crowded into the joint did he notice something was off. Firstly, Minseok was there. Secondly, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were suddenly scarily quiet. Thirdly, Kyungsoo seized up like he’d been staked. And lastly, those weren’t just ordinary humans. They were part of the Anti-Vampire Police Force. He heard Yi Fan swear quietly. Quickly, Joonmyun whispered, so softly only a vampire could hear.

“Relax, act normal. They won’t be able to tell.” Predictably, Chanyeol took it easily in his stride.

“Lu! Original milk tea plus sago. Also -”

“Extra sugar yeah I know.” The smile they shared was laced with worry. “Everyone else can have coffee or some shit, I can’t be bothered brewing anything else.” Baekhyun immediately protested, dragging a stony Kyungsoo along with him to argue with Luhan. Yi Fan just sighed, turning to grab a table, then realised that with the limited space in the cosy shop, they’d be sitting right next to the cops. Joonmyun balked.

 

“Just sit as far away as possible.” Yi Fan murmured and the rest of them hung onto his words. “Also, Chanyeol, are these the guys?”

“Yeah.” Even with his perfect eyesight, Chanyeol glanced at the cops once more. They didn’t realise how close they were to a coven. Cops these days... “I recognise the dude with the cat smile.”

“That’s Jongdae.” Minseok mumbled around his straw, sucking noisily at the drink. His squad didn’t notice and he didn’t turn to acknowledge his coven. Vampires could still taste human food and Minseok usually enjoyed it. But right now, all he could taste was bitterness. “What are you guys all doing here?”

“We were thinking of surprising Luhan.”

“Joonmyun, you need to get Kyungsoo out of here. I brought my squad on a scouting mission to the feeding rings.” Hand covering his mouth like he was hiding a smile, Minseok spoke quickly. “He fed off Jongin.”

“I’ll just leave now.” Without another word, Kyungsoo disappeared out the door. Thankfully, none of the cops seemed to notice their quiet conversation.

“Here’s your shit.” Speaking normally, Luhan practically tossed Baekhyun and Chanyeol their drinks. He lowered his voice, “Now hurry up and get out of here.”

“They shouldn’t be able to recognise us, we were wearing masks.” The couple nodded, then left. All that remained were Joonmyun and Yi Fan, perching rather awkwardly on their chairs as they waited for their coffee.

“Hello, I didn’t know Luhan had friends too.” From any other person it would have been insulting, but the voice was soft and sweet, accented with sleepiness. Joonmyun looked up in surprise as Minseok muttered,

“That’s Yixing.” Ah, so this was the team medic.

“My name is Yixing.” The human stuck out his hand, offering to shake. When Joonmyun took it, he felt like he had signed some sort of contract,

“I’m Suho.” He tilted his head towards Yi Fan, “And this is Kris.”

 

* * *

 

Tao tried not to stare at the newcomers. It was late enough for the night to be morning and these people didn’t look like they just walked out of a bar. Gaze still set casually on the wall next to the strangers, he leaned down to whisper to Jongin.  
“Jongin, do you - Jongin?” When Tao nudged the younger and still got no response, he ripped his attention away to his friend. Jongin had gone rigid, eyes fixed on the open door. “Jongin what’s wrong?”

“… nothing.” Jongin stood up, slurping down the last of his tea. “Uh, Minseok I’m going to go home now.” When his captain’s gaze locked with his, Jongin could have sworn for a second that Minseok knew everything. The moment passed.

“Ok, see you tomorrow.” Jongin tried to smile back. Tao started to stand along with Jongdae,

“Do you want us to go with you?”

“No I’m fine.” He answered quickly. Too quickly. Before Tao could insist, Jongin fled. What was up with him? Half of his mind still on Jongin, Tao tuned back to the current conversation.

“Ah so I have seen you before!” Yixing looked more awake than he had all night, “You visited the hospital some time ago for your company’s health and safety regulations.”

“I’m sorry, did I work with you that time?” The man who introduced himself as Suho frowned. “I don’t think I remember…”

“No, I was just passing by.” Tao tried not to groan when Yixing sidled over to sit next to the stranger. Xing was too friendly and open-minded for his own good. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Luhan whispering into Sehun’s ear. It looked too serious to be anything close to their earlier teasing.

“You managed to work in Mapo-gu’s hospital?” The stranger - Suho’s - tone was impressed. “You must be good in your work.”

“It was not that difficult to find a place…” Yixing flushed, “Not many want to work there because it’s so close to Jangmi cemetery.”

“What’s wrong with Jangmi?” In a way which was definitely against employee behavioural etiquette, Sehun had parked himself on top of the shop counter, sipping at his own bubble tea. He completely missed the warning glance Luhan sent his way. Beside Tao, Jongdae shrugged.

“There’s frequent vampire activity there.”

“But it’s a cemetery. Everyone there is dead.” Sehun didn’t mean to be hurtful, but Tao’s chest stung anyways. His entire family had been buried there through the generations, the most recent being his older sister. His attention trailed off to Suho’s much taller, more intimidating companion. There weren’t many people taller than Tao and even less who could top Sehun, but Kris fitted easily into that minority.

“Dude I thought you were supposed to be in uni.” Jongdae looked disbelievingly at Sehun.

“I am?”

“Don’t you listen to urban tales? The grave of the white roses? The white rose maiden? The cold white roses?”

Sehun stared blankly back, “I have no clue.” At this point, Kris stood, tossed back the rest of his coffee and tapped Suho on the shoulder.

“I need to get home, see you in the morning.” Then he left. Tao watched him closely as he walked, looking for the tell-tale sign of too-quick or too-smooth that would gave him away as one of them. But there was nothing strange about it. Maybe it was just shy of too graceful. Before Tao could make up his mind, Kris was gone.

 

* * *

 

When the initial burst of energy, born from pure impulsivity, fizzled out of Jongin, he stopped in his tracks. What on earth was he doing? He wasn’t worried by some vampire attack, the stake strapped against his thigh weighed heavily on his mind. Jongin had no intentions of using it when he raced out the bubble tea shop. Why was he actively looking for a vampire?

“D.O!” He probably didn’t have to shout so loud, every single vampire in a kilometre radius could hear him, but he was getting frustrated. His fingers dug absently into the ache on his neck. Tao would be back at AVPF headquarters, waiting up for him in their shared room. Jongin moodily kicked the edge of the curb,

“D.O!” No reply. Fucking hell. When he looked down at his hands, his scowl deepened at the blood spotting his fingertips. All that running around must have opened it up again. Jongin let his touch fall away, there were a lot of memories he didn’t want to deal with associated to the bite. Resigned, Jongin started to retrace his steps. He dragged his feet. The vampire must have figured out by now that he was a cop, so how long would it be until Jongin would be targeted? Stuck in his own wandering thoughts, he doesn’t notice there was someone walking next to him, feet silent on the ground. A polite cough in the night sent Jongin flailing.

\---

“Holy shit!”

“Hello Kai.” Kyungsoo could hear the human’s heart speed up, his eyes widen in fear, but everything took a back seat to his _scent_. Unable to control himself, Kyungsoo leaned forward, placing his nose close to the other’s neck. The human didn’t flinch.

“Why are you here?” Kai’s voice was tense.

“You called?” Was this human an idiot? Wasn’t he scared?

“I - I did?”

“You didn’t?” Kyungsoo felt the beginnings of irritation spark up. This stupid idiot was walking around at night bleeding fresh blood like a teabag. If it wasn’t for the silver he could smell, Kyungsoo would have thought Kai had a death wish. Then again, weren’t all cops like this? Serve humankind, die young for the people.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“If the question is ‘Can I shove my stake in your heart?’ then the answer is no.” Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed in a way that would make even Yi Fan and Joonmyun draw back. He’s had a lot of practice. The human doesn’t blink an eye, but his breath quickens.

“Why do you go to the feeding rings?”

“Why are some humans vegetarian?” Kyungsoo didn’t intend to answer any of this human’s questions.

“That’s hardly an accurate representation…”

“My turn for a question.”

“You haven’t answered mine yet.” Kai looked wary.

“Why do you care about what I do?” Kyungsoo asked anyways, glaring up at the other. There it was, that complete lack of fear on Kai’s features. The vampire’s annoyance bled into confusion,

“Aren’t you scared of me?”

“You don’t feel dangerous.” Ah, the irritation was back again. With a low snarl, Kyungsoo snatches the human up by the scruff of his neck and flings him down the road.

\---

“You don’t feel dangerous.” Jongin could immediately tell that was the wrong thing to say, D.O.’s irises flaring red. Pain burst from the bite on his neck and the world swirled around him. The breath in his lungs wooshed out on impact and Jongin found himself staring at the night sky. All the panic, all the fear he had been desperately trying to tamp down finally boiled over when the distinctive red glow re-entered his field of view and Jongin couldn’t help but reach for the weapon on his leg, except there was nothing there. Something silver glinted on the street several metres away. Then there were clawed hands holding him down and familiar fangs scraping over his neck. Jongin choked out a scream, his own, softer hands pushing futilely at the stone-cold mass above him.

“But I _am_ dangerous.” That silky voice was way too close to his ear and sounded way too smug about wringing a reaction from the cop. “Remember? I’m the big scary monster.”

“You said you weren’t.” Jongin was really starting to struggle, practically thrashing, held unforgivingly between vampire and rough road. The grip on his arm tightened until Jongin imagined bruises blooming on his skin. “Gah - let _go_ of me!” No response. Did he get it wrong? Was everything the vampire said a lie? Sharp pricks danced around his neck once again. Jongin lost it, his voice cracking in panic.

“No!” He twisted to no avail, “I don’t want you to - I take back my consent, get off - let go!”

“Stop moving goddammit.” Something lifted Jongin’s head, slammed it into the ground. Ouch. “You’re ripping yourself open and bleeding everywhere, it’s not helping.” _Oh._ Filtering through his panic phase, Jongin registered the sting on his elbows, on his back. His shirt had split. Slightly dazed, it was easy to go limp on the tarmac.

“You’re not going to…” Jongin propped himself up, relieved when the vampire allowed him to do so. He watched, transfixed and uncomprehending, as D.O. brought his bloodstained fingers to his lips. And licked them clean. Shocked, Jongin scrambled to get away, somehow managing to get his feet under him.

“But I said no!”

“The consent doesn’t have to be verbal, you have to _mean_ it.” A smirk, “You may want to consider getting a new job. Oh, and also…” A breath of air brushed Jongin’s cheek and D.O.’s face was inches from his.

“My name is Kyungsoo.” Then he was gone, melted away into the night like a ghost. He had left Jongin alive.

“Jongin!” Before he could stop himself, Jongin shouted after the vampire, deflating a little when no answer came back. It didn’t matter, he definitely heard him. He was a vampire after all. But was he a monster? Jongin couldn’t tell yet. “My name is Jongin.”

 

* * *

 

“Several centuries ago, there lived a daughter of a rich merchant who was betrothed to another man.” Yixing sipped his drink, “The marriage was purely political, a power play meant to secure more wealth for her lower class family. After several years, the man accused her of cheating and her family, horrified at the complications this could cause, locked her away.”

“She died not long after and was laid to rest in Jangmi cemetery. Her husband never bothered to visit, but every night, flowers appeared at her grave, a bouquet of white roses which would be placed in secret, nobody ever saw who left them.” There was a strange depth to Suho’s eyes when Yixing looked up, taking another gulp of tea. “It was only when her husband and her parents passed away that people began to fear. They thought it was a ghost, the white rose ghost of Jangmi.”

“It wasn’t a ghost was it?” Sehun tried to keep his thoughts from flickering to the vampire by his side. Luhan looked thoroughly disinterested, picking away at his fingernails.

“Well, now we know more than we did in that time, it is fairly easy to conclude her lover was a vampire.”

“Bah.”

“Yes Jongdae?”

“Xing, you can’t possibly believe she could have fallen in love with a leech?” Jongdae scoffed, “How could you trust someone in a relationship when the only thing they want is your blood?” Too quietly for the humans to hear, Joonmyun huffed in relief.

“Thank god Kris isn’t around to hear that.” Luhan and Minseok sighed, silently agreeing. That would have been an ugly confrontation.

“It doesn’t have to be love, it could easily have been a mirage the vampire placed on her.” Ouch, that stung. It hurt Joonmyun more that this soft-spoken medic could not, would not believe that vampires had feelings too. However, his hurt was instantly dispelled, replaced with disbelief by Yixing’s next words.

“There is also no evidence to say if their relationship was manufactured or not. I don’t think we know enough about vampires to make an accurate conclusion of this story.”

 

Joonmyun could hear Tao and Jongdae’s soft gasps,

“Xing!”

“I’m sorry, he says the weirdest things sometimes.” Tao reached out and dragged Yixing back to their table by the leg of his chair, “Xing you’re a _cop_ for fuck’s sake, you can’t say that.”

Joonmyun just watched the two younger men fussed over Yixing, raising an eyebrow at Minseok. So this was the sweet team medic he spoke so highly of. Zhang Yixing, the cop with zero kills. Luhan and Sehun mirrored each other, gaping at the man. Even in the dead of the night, surrounded mostly by close friends, what he said could have landed him in jail-slash-asylum for the rest of his life. Fraternising with humankind’s number one enemy. Joonmyun was intrigued.

“It’s ok, just a little surprising.”

“Xing’s a little crazy, don’t pay attention to him.” Jongdae clapped a hand over Yixing’s mouth when it looked like he was going to say something else. “He’s also perpetually running on three hours of sleep.”

“I think it’s best if we left.” Ice rattled in Minseok’s empty cup, “We have stuff to do in the morning.”

“Get home safe you guys.” Sehun waved from behind the counter. The four cops shuffled out the door. Joonmyun gave it a couple of seconds before speaking,

“Minseok, we’ll meet up in the day, ill text you.”

“Can he hear that?” Curious, Sehun peered out the door. The cops were far down the street.

“Of course he can.” With the squad finally gone, Luhan sidled closer, nipping playfully at his neck.

“Luhan, can you control yourself?” Joonmyun had rather mixed feelings about the vampire/human arrangement the two had going on.

“Don’t be so uptight Junnie.”

The vampire gave a weary sigh,

“I’ll see you later Luhan.”

“Great, our shift ends in ten minutes.” Sehun checked his phone. Joonmyun didn’t miss the smoulder in their gaze, muttering a quick goodbye before he fled, leaving the two to their own devices.

 

* * *

 

“Joonmyun just texted, he said we’ll try to meet up again in the day after office hours.” Moonlight sparkling off his face, Byun Baekhyun lay tiredly against Chanyeol, pressed up side to side. The park was silent and empty around them, playground abandoned, and it would have been eerie to anyone else. The pale colours, the shadows and the absolute stillness of it all. It didn’t bother the pair. It’s been too long.

“And what shall we do in our time before?” Chanyeol waggled his eyebrows, his grin turning to a wince when Baekhyun elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

“Yah - we have things we need to worry about!”

“Like?”

“Those cops!” Now in full-blown worried mode, Baekhyun jumped up from the dewy glass and started to pace around Chanyeol. “They’ll recognise us! We’re fucked eleven out of ten. Fucked out of ten. What will we do - hey!” A lazy arm wrapped around his leg and yanked him bodily back to the ground. Baekhyun landed a mess on top of his mate.

“Chanyeol stop being so - mmf.” Beakhyun couldn’t help but melt into the kiss.

“Baek, stop being so anxious.” Chanyeol’s mouth moved into that placating grin against Baekhyun’s lips, “They won’t recognise us. How could they? We slapped on the masks as soon as we heard them.”

“But still - Yeol!” Rolling them over, Chanyeol hovered on top of the shorter and pressed another quick peck to his lips.

“Park Chanyeol I’m being serious -” Another brush of lips.

“What if -” Baekhyun broke off into giggles as Chanyeol nipped with his fangs.

“Chan -” This time Chanyeol stayed, dragging out the kiss until Baekhyun tangled his fingers in his hair. When they parted, Baekhyun whined.

“You made me forget what I was going to say!”

“That was the plan.”

“Damn you, come back and kiss me.” Chuckling at Baekhyun’s pout, Chanyeol complied. The situation deteriorated quickly, the silence filled with breathless laughter.

“Don’t worry too much Baek, I’ll protect you, remember?”

“I’m older than you.” The shorter vampire grumbled, “Now let me up. I wanna go on the swings.”

 

* * *

 

“I fucked up.” Kyungsoo stormed into whatever peaceful little bubble his friends had, ignoring their frozen forms on the swing set.

“Soo, you alright?”

“What happened?” Immediately, the pair flitted over to a very distressed Kyungsoo.

“I told the stupid human my name.” Kyungsoo groaned, face hidden in his hands, and collapsed onto the end of a see saw. “And he told me his name.”

“Human? Which human?” Baekhyun’s question spoke for Chanyeol too.

“You guys aren’t the only ones with a cop encounter…” So Kyungsoo explained, slowly, what happened earlier that night.

“Ohhhh fuck.”

“I fucked up.” Kyungsoo stared dejectedly down at the ground.

“But… he didn’t tell the rest of his squad did he?” Baekhyun dropped himself neatly into Kyungsoo’s lap, in a way he knew would irritate the younger. Everyone had their own way of dealing with things and for Kyungsoo, it was easier to get angry.

“… no.”

“And he didn’t try to kill you did he?” Chanyeol picked up on to Baekhyun’s art of distraction tactics, poking Kyungsoo right on the forehead. Kyungsoo’s eyebrow twitched dangerously.

“… no. And can you not do that?”

“Soooo, you’re worried about absolutely nothing.” Baekhyun beamed up at Kyungsoo, who now looked utterly murderous, and curled exactly so his shoulder dug into his friend’s stomach.

“What do you mean it’s absolutely nothing!?” Kyungsoo’s signature glower was plastered over his face, “He could - Chanyeol if you don’t get the hell off my back I swear to god…” The threat trailed off into a growl. Baekhyun pinched him under the chin. That did it. Kyungsoo jumped to his feet, eyes blazing, and tackled them off him. Whoops and laughter pervaded the playground, and it no longer felt so still.

 

* * *

 

“Jongin just got back.”

“Is he ok?”

“Minseok, he’s a grown man, I think he can take care of himself…” Jongdae yawned, “Anyways, I didn’t get to see him. He just ran up to his room with Tao.”

“Xing?”

“Passed out in the medical bay, I just propped him up on one of the beds there.”

“Will you be going to sleep soon?” Minseok finally looked away from the computer, reports reflected onto his glasses, and Jongdae tried his best not to stare.

“Yeah… no actually wait.” He needed to do this now or he’ll never be able to. “I need to talk to you.”

Jongdae saw Minseok frown in concern, his ‘captain mindset’ already jumping to all sorts of terrible conclusions. It wasn’t terrible. At least, Jongdae hoped it would be as painless as possible. Painless was usually the best way to go.

“Can we talk somewhere else?” Jongdae couldn’t hold his gaze much longer, hiding his nervousness by walking out of the archive rooms. Everything he had ever done was situated around AVPF; his training, his job, his friends… and now his love life. Minseok had always been a constant with Jongdae, he was there on Jongdae’s first real assignment, there when Jongdae’s first squad fell apart and there when Jongdae was alone. Minseok was like a lifeline for him, someone that kept him anchored in the storm of violence that was being a cop. He was reliable, a trustworthy friend and a person he could depend on getting his back. Somewhere down the line, Jongdae fell in love. It was inevitable. Eventually, Jongdae made it out of headquarters, standing twitchily in the cool night air. Well, by now it was very early morning. Who gave a damn?

“Jongdae?” His heart fluttered unevenly at the voice. Facing down half a dozen leeches? No problem. Hearing Minseok call his name? Devolves into jelly. The logic of this world…

“Minseok, I -” Jongdae clamped his mouth shut when he turned, startled at their closeness.

“Dae are you alright?” No. No, _Dae_ was not alright goddammit.

“Minseok, I…” He pursed his lips. The older man stayed silent, like a good friend, waiting patiently for him to continue. “Minseok, no matter what I say, can everything still stay the same?” Change was bad, it was painful and it hurt. Jongdae waited until Minseok nodded. Okay then.

“Remember when we all went out on that assignment in May?”

Slow nod.

“And I asked if you wanted to go get lunch with me?”

Nod.

“I… wasn’t asking that as a - a friend.” Oops that sounded a little weird. Jongdae scrambled, “Well, at _the time_ I was asking you as a friend but I was expecting to be something else by the time we went out to eat lunch and I was -” Wow he was bad at this. “A-and I… like… you.”

 

He couldn’t meet Minseok’s gaze.

“Dae, I don’t think this is the best idea right now.” Nothing seemed to be different in the way he spoke. That hurt. Jongdae started to inch back into the building,

“Ok then -” He yelped in surprise when Minseok tugged him back, stiff and awkward.

“No wait, Dae - I said _right now_.” Minseok’s arms encircle him, cool and relaxing. “It’s busy now, we have so little time even on the job as it is.”

“So maybe…?” Jongdae looked up hopefully.

“Yes maybe.”

\---

“Yes maybe.” Minseok felt his stomach drop even as he said those words. He was screwing himself over and he knew it. Maybe… maybe never. Probably never. Minseok wanted to laugh at the disgusting circumstances of his situation. _You’re not a monster_. Kyungsoo would punch him playfully on the arm. But he was. He was the same type of thing that massacred Jongdae’s family and strung them out for him to watch. “Maybe next time.” The hope in Jongdae’s eyes made him want to retch. Instead, he steered the human inside.

“We’ll freeze to death out here.”

“Alright captain.” Jongdae was back to playful and sly, lips quirking up into that feline smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Actually, Jongdae…” Minseok kept his tone light, conversational. Jongdae turns back, eyebrow raised questioningly. “What did you think of the myth?”

“The myth?”

“The legend they were talking about at the shop.”

“The white rose myth?” Jongdae barely skipped a beat in thought. “Impossible.” Heart sinking to his toes, Minseok forced a smile.

“So quick to answer. You’ll never change will you?”

“Nope.” Jongdae’s expression became crafty, “But I’ll change for you.”

“Do you mean that?” Minseok looked at him, sceptical.

“I’m offended.”

“Go to sleep Jongdae.”

“Of course captain."

\---

As Jongdae climbed the steps to the residential part of headquarters, he couldn’t help but think that he had just been but through some sort of test. And for some reason, the slouch in Minseok’s demeanour made him feel like he had failed. Miserably.

 

* * *

 

Yi Fan stood, a marble statue, like some sort of modern gargoyle welded to the top of a skyscraper. The wind was biting, cold. It didn’t bother him. Above the city, away from all the sights and scents and sounds, he didn’t have to fight so hard to stay focused. The starlight was feeble, even to his crimson gaze, and Yi Fan could still remember when the same sky was all the humans had for light, be it the sun, the moon or the stars. Everything was much simpler back then. He had his home, his coven and his life - well, as much of a life a vampire could have. Pain was at a minimum. There was no hole in his heart, no sense of loss. There was no memory of her unique scent, so laden with light and hope. He never thought he would ever have had the chance to let her scent grace his senses again. It had been buried with her after all, down deep under layers of soil until it was all but lost. Lost under bouquets of yellow chrysanthemum. She had always hated the colour. She much preferred white, had a fascination for the pure, delicate petals of a different kind of flower. Roses were so much more elegant, she had said. Yi Fan agreed.

 

The silence and isolation could only hold back his thoughts for so long. Before he knew it, Yi Fan’s mind shifted curiously, the long black hair from his memories replaced with a shorter, messier mop, darker complexion, much taller too. But the similarities between both people were uncanny. It was in the eyes, fox-like and uplifted to slant down in an expression that promised danger. And of course, the _scent._ Too deep in his wondering, the sharp buzz of his phone startled Yi Fan.

“Hello?”

“It’s me.” Minseok’s voice filtered through, “Did you get Joonmyun’s message?”

“Yeah, tomorrow afternoon 3pm meet up.” The tall vampire sighed, “Can’t believe we messed up tonight. Are Baekhyun and Chanyeol safe?”

“They’re fine - and before you can ask - Kyungsoo is with them.”

“That’s good.”

“Also, I think I know now…” He trailed off, the phone going silent for a little too long.

“Minseok, are you alright?” Yi Fan frowned, his face finally crumpling to some sort of expression. There was something tense about the way the older vampire spoke.

“I’m fine.” Minseok’s voice was uncertain, like a thought he hadn’t quite finished. “I… Yi Fan, I think I know how you felt back then.”

“Who is it?” There wasn’t much point in asking what this was about.

“… Jongdae.” At the name, Yi Fan winced. Sometimes Minseok had the shittiest luck.

“Minseok -”

“I know! I just needed to talk with you because you would understand and -”

“Minseok, it seems this century has really screwed us over.” Yi Fan didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry. “What’s Tao’s last name?”

“Tao?” In the silence that followed Minseok’s confusion, Yi Fan could practically hear the realisation click. “Huang. Huang Zitao.”

“Are we talking about _the_ Huang family?”

“Yes.” That was all Yi Fan needed to hear. He hung up, dropped the phone back in his pocket and continued his aimless surveillance of the city. There were many variances to the popular urban legend, The White Roses. That lady Huang committed suicide, despaired from being prohibited to marry her true love. That the time she spent locked in her house leeched her of life and, with no more will to even eat, she passed away. The most popular was that there was an accident, that her parents were so scared of losing her current marriage, so determined to keep her affair a secret, that they pushed her down the stairs. Most takes on the tale were ridiculous. She wasn’t even married in the first place. She _was_ promised, promised to a human lover. Everything was planned beautifully. But even in its elegance a rose hides its thorns, and she fell for a vampire. A vampire she had been supposed to kill. And no, the vampire didn’t kill her. If there was one thing the rumours had remotely close to the truth, it was this. Her parents did. They slit her throat and left her to hang. All because she fell in love with a vampire.

 

* * *

 

Sehun preferred to keep his tiny box of an apartment as neat and tidy as possible. That didn’t matter so much when Luhan’s mouth was pressed so insistently to his. The scarf was ripped from his neck, cold air making him shudder. It was thrown carelessly onto the floor. He’d fold it up later. Suddenly his feet left the floor and he clung onto Luhan until he could feel soft sheets on his back.

“I don’t need to feed today.” Luhan’s voice buzzed under his skin. “Is that ok?”  
Sehun only got paid whenever Luhan had to feed. The rest of their arrangement was… negotiable. In Sehun’s humble opinion, there were things worth more than his blood. And Luhan gave most of it for free. Sehun nodded eagerly, sliding his hands over cold skin.

“I want -” Sehun moaned. Luhan’s mouth once again covered his, but this time it lacked their initial desperation, becoming a slow filthy grind of slick lips. One of the best things that came with the Luhan package was the kissing; he kissed Sehun like he meant something. He kissed Sehun like he loved him. But Sehun knew love didn’t come free in the deal, and he was sure that Luhan wasn’t selling.

“I want you.”

“I want you too.” Luhan teasingly gnawed on his bottom lip, eyes red and dark with lust. That was it. Lust. For the vampire, Sehun was just a passing fancy, a pretty thing he picked up on a whim. He couldn’t possibly understand his feelings. To Sehun, Luhan was something powerful, beautiful and utterly out of his league. It didn’t stop him from wanting. So he just pulled the vampire down on top of him, tangling their legs together. Something by the bedside toppled over. He could clean it up in the morning. This couldn’t wait. The next time their lips met, he imagined Luhan loved him too.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case...  
> Vampires: Minseok, Joonmyun, Kris, Baekhyun, Luhan, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol  
> Humans: Sehun, Tao, Jongin, Jongdae, Yixing  
> Aaaaand there we go *rubs hands evilly for next chapter*  
> Feedback and comments appreciated! You can join me [@Willow4448](https://twitter.com/Willow4448?lang=en)


	3. Running Circles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello once again :)

When Sehun woke up in the morning, he wasn’t surprised to find himself alone in bed. Hair mussed, sticky and sore, he sat up violently, threw off the blankets and stumbled his way to the bathroom, jamming back the rising feeling of hurt. Stupid Luhan. Grumpy, Sehun ducked under the freezing spray of water from the shower, expecting it to warm in a minute or two. He waited.

“Fuck.” He growled. It didn’t heat up for the length of his shower and he stomped out, shivering, before doing a double-take, caught on his reflection in the mirror. Deep, purple-red marks bloomed down his neck, over his clavicles and across his chest. Sehun groaned, prodding gently at several of the darker ones. With a sigh, he rummaged for one of his ever-growing wardrobe of turtlenecks. Stupid Luhan.

That was how Oh Sehun, second-year uni student, found himself limping down the stairs at 7am in the morning, running on less than four hours sleep and praying the half-hour commute to university won’t be too painful. Tao and Jongin were going to tease him endlessly when they met. Even worse, there was a mini dance showcase on after lunch and Sehun was royally screwed. Gritting his teeth, Sehun forced his legs to take bigger steps, feeling muscles clench around the bruises on his thigh he had neither the time nor the courage to inspect. Stifling another pained groan as he jogged to catch his bus, he fervently hoped that he wouldn’t be late for his lecture.

 

* * *

 

“Jesus Christ, you smell like sex.”

“Astute observation.” Luhan smiled serenely at Baekhyun’s pinched face. “Are you two just about to leave?”

“Yeah, we may not come back.” Chanyeol ducked into Luhan’s small living room, careful not to bump his guitar case on any furniture. The clock on the wall read a quarter to eight. It ran ten minutes fast and every month Luhan would make the resolution to reset it, but the clock kept ticking in its future time and probably will keep ticking until it broke.

“We’re thinking of moving in to our back-up house after we finish at work.”

“Good, you’re both a pain in the ass.”

“Luhan, why don’t you think of getting a day job too?” Baekhyun had his violin packed neatly into its case, backpack filled with dozens of students’ music folders. “It’s been half a century since you did anything serious.”

“Unlike you two, I have accumulated a sizeable fortune which could last me for the next three centuries and I intend to wait.”

“Not going to share?”  
“With who?” Luhan snorted.

“Luhan, if you like Sehun just go ahead and tell him -” Baekhyun stopped talking when Luhan’s grin slipped of his face.

“Are all of you dense?” Luhan snapped, “I’m not ever having a mate, especially not with some _human._ ”

“Lu -”

“And look what happened to Yi Fan and _his_ relationship.” He turned and stalked off to the bathroom. Chanyeol and Baekhyun just sighed at his retreating back, linking arms and making their way out the entrance. The tunnel outside was dark, but as soon as they popped up to the world above, they’d have to face the brightness of the sun.

“Do you think we could go back to our old place? Maybe sneak in to get some of our stuff back?”

Chanyeol shook his head, “AVPF probably took it all away. Do you still have the painting?”

“Yep, it’s living on Luhan’s table.”

“That’s good.” Chanyeol leaned in to press a kiss to Baekhyun’s hair. The shorter instantly arched up into his touch, whining when he pulled away. “We have classes to teach Baek.”

“I think the little human kids are safely ignorant of our activities.” Baekhyun stubbornly fisted a hand in his mate’s shirt and dragged him down so their faces met.

 

* * *

 

 

The news lady was poised, professional behind the screen as it played to three frowning faces.

_Four bodies had been discovered just after five this morning near Seoul Tower…_

“Have there been any nomadic covens in town?” Yi Fan didn’t look up from the TV.

_…brutally torn apart and displayed with purpose. A warning message was painted behind the scene…_

“No, I’ll try to contact Jinki and Yerim.” Junmyeon fingers tapped across his mobile, still reading every single sub line that popped up in the news.

_It seemed to be an anti-AVPF act, none of the victims have been fed from. They had been killed for the pure sake of killing…_

“I’ll find which squad was on patrol when I go back to headquarters.”

_Residents are cautioned to stay indoors after sundown…_

“Minseok, you need to be careful.” This time, Yi Fan did look away from the screen, his gaze heavy with more than worry for his physical safety.

_…and to avoid eye contact to minimise risk of a mirage…_

“I know.”

_If any friends or family are displaying symptoms of a mirage…_

“We need to tell everyone.”

_Please report it immediately to the nearest AVPF compound._

 

The segment ended. Joonmyun instantly jumped to texting the rest of their coven, typing faster than the keyboard could register.

“Minseok, when are you going back to the cops?”

“We have a meeting at 5 in the evening. Other than that, I’ll be working at the café.” Dressed neatly in a T-shirt and jeans with his barista uniform folded into his backpack, Minseok rubbed his eyes. “I don’t think I’ll have time to go running after these rogue vampires.”

“Don’t worry about it, Joon and I can track them.” Yi Fan said, shrugging on an artfully ripped sweater. “Just don’t get caught.”

“I’ll call if anything important happens.”

“Baekhyun and Chanyeol are thinking of moving in to a new place today.” Junmyeon frowned at his phone, “Luhan’s going to sleep until we meet up and Kyungsoo’s already attending class.”

“Joon, that’s all we can do for now.” Minseok patted the worried vampire on the shoulder, “Don’t think too much about it.”

“I’ll keep him chill.” Yi Fan promised, dragging the other two out of the house with him. It was a small home, one bedroom for each of them plus one common area, but it had served them well over the years. Yi Fan hoped they wouldn’t have to move soon. “We’ll see you at 3 yeah?”

“I’ll be there.” Just before Minseok left, he popped back. “Bring your masks with you.”

\---

Joonmyun and Yi Fan blended easily with the humans pressing around the police tape, their generic black facemasks matching perfectly with the others dotting the crowd. It was getting colder after all, the weather change tended to result in a lot of sick humans. Civilians were kept far enough away from the dim alley of crime that the details were obscured. But Joonmyun and Yi Fan could see everything with startling clarity.

 

“Shit, we’re in trouble.” Yi Fan muttered, staring at the message splashed across the tarmac road. _We kill the true monsters._ It looked to have been written in something that smelled suspiciously of blood. It was hard to tell, the entire scene reeked of the sweet scent. If they were younger, the aroma would have had the duo snapping and snarling, taken by their own thirst. They were older now, more controlled, and could stay their fangs and claws.

“AVPF will have a crackdown after this.” Joonmyun murmured, “Four dead humans will have the city in a frenzy.”

“They must have left a trail, let’s circle around back and - oh fuck.” Yi Fan went rigid. Joonmyun followed his friend’s gaze, zeroing in on a tall, sharp-eyed cop who just arrived on scene. There was something about him that looked very familiar…

“Yi Fan.” Joonmyun dragged the other to face him, “Yi Fan is that him?”  
His question was answered with a tight nod.

“Yi Fan, focus.” Alarmed by the hints of red starting to bleed into Yi Fan’s pupils, Joonmyun made to pull the older away.

“Wait - Joon, I’m fine.” He sucked in a deep breath, “Let’s go around the back, see if we can pick up their scents” Joonmyun gave him a long, searching look before he complied, silently pushing their way out of the growing crowd.

 

“The group of them split here…” In the morning light, Joonmyun squinted, trying to pick up what his nose could not. It would have been more ideal to track at night, when their senses weren’t muffled by the sun, but then they’d have the patrols to deal with.

“Pick one each, tracking only?” It was stated like a question, but the two of them already started moving down their respective lanes. The buildings were cramped close around the road, all several stories high.

“We’ll meet back up later.”

Yi Fan grunted in assent, tugged his hoody over his head and ran, not bothering to keep to human speeds when there was no one around to see. Joonmyun cast one more worried glance behind him before flitting down his own way, unable to fight the uneasiness rolling in his gut.

\---

Tao hid a yawn behind his fingers, desperately trying to pay attention to the ranting of the squad captain who found the bodies. The unlucky team wasn’t specialised in vampire activity at all, they were just making their way back after responding to some claims of breaking and entering when they stumbled across the mess of body parts and blood that splattered the alley.

“… like the work of monsters I tell you -”

“Vampires _are_ monsters captain.” Tao cut off his rambling abruptly. The man had nothing important to say. “Get your squad back to HQ so they can file official reports. We’ll contact you if any more questions arise.” 

“Of course, Mr Huang.” The man bowed and left, oblivious to the death glare Tao sent him. Unheard by all but himself, he muttered,

“Don’t call me that.” It irked Tao, his family name. The only reason why these men listened to him wasn’t because of his battle prowess nor his overwhelming kill count, a kill count even higher than the revenge-driven Kim Jongdae, but because he was the firstborn child of the Huang family and the most probable contender as the next head of the Anti-Vampire Police Force. Whilst Jongdae ran on hate to train and kill, Tao was there by sense of duty. It was going to kill him one day. He’s sure of it.

 

The young man stood calmly at the roads before him, one leading left and the other right. At first glance, this case looked very much like the work of newborns, unable to control their bloodlust. But it was way too well done, no decent security footage, no fingerprints or other marks of identity. His targets weren’t young, no matter how reckless and crazy their actions seemed to be. There was nothing left behind, nothing but a mess of gore that had once been a living, breathing human being. Monsters Indeed.

 

If he remembered correctly (of course he remembered correctly), the left road goes to Yangcheon and the right to Guro’s industrial factories. There was a good chance the group of leeches split up here, they should have several hideouts across the city. Nothing has been happening in Yangcheon but in Guro… Tao started to walk briskly down the right lane. In Guro there’d been a reported spike in missing persons. Of course, nothing’s been confirmed yet. It could have easily been some crazy kidnapper, not a rogue coven of vampires wreaking havoc by night. However, Tao was willing to bet it was.

 

As he walked, Tao quickly shot off a couple of texts to Jongdae and Jongin, telling them to check out Yangcheon and that he’d meet up with them again at Yonsei university for class. For a second, he hovered over Minseok’s and Yixing’s contacts. Both older men were probably working, living their lives out of the underground society. Tao tucked his phone away. Knowing their attitudes, they’d flock to help him and Tao was loathe to drag them away from normality. They weren’t like Tao, who was born and trained for his job. No, not for his job, for his _father_ ’s job. Shaking his head, Tao sped up into a light jog. There was no use thinking about such things. He had shit to do.

 

There was an imperceptible shift in the air around him, one most humans would never quite be able to pin down. Tao could. He could distinguish the exact moment quiet became too quiet and still became too still. Grey buildings surrounded him, looking white against Tao’s black attire, and there was no one on the streets. Not that humans were a good indicator, no their senses were too dull. It was the animals you had to pay attention to. No birds perched on the windows of the factories, the barking of dogs was absent and nothing scurried down the alleys. Animals could smell predators, and they stayed far away. The cop scanned his surroundings carefully, daylight doing nothing to warm the dead chill settled thickly on these roads. There had to be a nest nearby, he just had to find it.

\---

Yi Fan had found the nest easily, it took him a mere half hour to track them down. He had started going back, intending to chase after Joonmyun, when another wave of scent slammed into him. A scent that invoked memories of fox-eyes, red lips and white roses. What was the Huang boy doing here? Groaning at his own sense of curiosity, Yi Fan followed it right back to Guro. The vampire gave himself several beats to feel impressed, Tao was quick, much quicker than he expected him to be. Then again, the Huangs were always the best at what they did. Tugging his mask up higher over his nose, Yi Fan followed.

\---

There was nowhere else it could be, this was the only inactive factory here. Rows and rows of abandoned textile production lines waved at Tao through grimy windows. He wondered if it still had safety measures installed against leeches here, but when he inspected one of the massive roller doors he could see whatever silver lining that had been laid around the edges had faded off ages ago. Tao paused, frowning at the problem in front of him. If he blundered in by opening these rollers the coven would wake up for sure, assuming they were even asleep in the first place. He didn’t have to ponder for long.

 

“Hello mister!” Bright and bubbly, definitely female. Tao turned slowly, fighting to keep his hands from jumping to the stake strapped to his thigh. He smiled sweetly at the petite teenager who hadn’t been there mere seconds before.

“Young miss, what are you doing here?” He could see the innate stillness in her being, movements too smooth to be real. The first time he had ever seen a vampire was surreal, it was like watching a leopard in human skin. “This area is very dangerous.” His fingers slipped easily into his pocket, the cool metal surface of a sun bomb soothing his nerves.

“I live here.” She looked at the floor, but Tao still saw her eyes swirl red. “You shouldn’t be walking around here either you damn cop.”

Tao saw the lunge before it happened, yanking the bomb out and flicking the trigger.

 

The leech’s blood-curdling scream was cut short with a gasp, stake buried in her heart. Tao didn’t give the body a second glance, it was a sure kill, and spun around, unsheathing his knife from under his coat. If there was one vamp up and around then… Tao ducked under another set of claws and lashed out with a savage kick. It connected with something solid, too solid to be human, and it stumbled back. Male, it physically looked at least a decade older than the female. The cop sensed more than saw the fangs that descended on his neck. He rolled away, looking back to see another leech, face tucked away under a snapback. There were two of them circling about him now. Two was one too many vampires Tao wanted to deal with at any given time. When he tried to hook out another bomb, sharp hot pain sliced down his arms. A third leech behind him. Well, fuck.

 

The blood sent them into a frenzy, fangs extended fully over their lips and faces contorted into snarls. Something heavy hit Tao in the side, sent him stumbling even as he plunged his hand into his back pocket, fingers catching on the trigger of his second bomb. A cold grip dug painfully into his arm and he almost dropped it. Tao reversed the grip of his knife, bringing it down in a deadly silver arc. The distinct sizzle of silver burning through leech flesh reached his ears and the grip disappeared, only to circle itself around his neck. Tao choked, forgetting how to close his eyes as the sun bomb went off.

 

Black dotted his vision. Forcing himself up onto strong legs, Tao started to run back the way he came, leaving the three blinded vampires writhing in pain on the ground. It would take a mere minute to heal over their burns and fried retinas. He just needed to get to a well-populated area, full of security cameras and other humans with their sounds and smells. The plan was easier said than done. There was an active factory all the way down the road. He could make it, it wasn’t that far - since when did his shoulder start bleeding too? He stopped for a heartbeat, looked back. Right into a pair of blood-red eyes.

 

Not two, not three but _four_ of them? Five including the first female. Tao screamed when the fingers twisted deeper into his flesh, wringing out a fresh spurt of blood. Then he was on the ground, staring up at blue sky. A shadow warped into his view. He refused to look into its eyes. Bloody palms cupped his cheeks.

“Look at me.” The voice was velvety, silky and smooth. Tao slashed up with his knife, stake dropped somewhere on the road. He ended up with both hands caught in one of this leech’s perfectly manicured hands. He kind of messed up her nail job with his blood. Sharp pricks dig into the sensitive skin under his neck. But she couldn’t bite. He hadn’t said yes.

“I said _look at me_.” The command was punctuated with a slap that rocked Tao’s world. The cop screwed his eyes closed. This was it. He laughed.

“Kill me, bitch.”

 

Tao wasn’t worried about how his death would affect AVPF. Nah, one of his cousins could easily fill his spot. His father probably won’t notice. He _was_ worried about how his squad would take it and that was the one and only thing on his mind as he waited for the monster on top of him to rip him to bits. It’s cold weight was pressing on him as his hot blood continued to leak onto the concrete and - it was gone, the freezing tonne of bricks vanishing into thin air. His lids stayed glued shut in confusion, snapping open when he registered two hissing voices. When they crack open, he could only stare at the scene before him.

\---

Yi Fan kicked the female off the cop with anger bubbling in his veins. He could almost hear Joonmyun having a heart attack, the guy was too peaceful for his own good. The female rolled to her feet, lips pulling back off her teeth as she growled at her new opponent. There was a silver stake by his feet. He picked it up.

\---

Plenty of brains and tactics went into fighting vampires. Humans were pitifully weak against them so they had to use every advantage they could get, mainly in the form of silver. Tao wasn’t sure what he expected from seeing two of the same kind fighting each other, he never had the reason to think they would. Maybe they would be graceful, flowing with that unnatural speed and full of lightning quick steps. It wasn’t. The fight was downright savage. Tao staggered to his feet, making it far enough to lean against a telephone pole, and watched the pair _fight_. Gashes opened and closed almost as fast as he blinked, elbows and knees cracking off each other’s stone cold bodies. Two corpses fighting.

 

The taller one swiped with long arms, gashing open the female’s throat. Tao couldn’t see its face, features hidden away under a black mask. Only his eyes were visible and they burned fiery red. The female choked. She wasn’t healing. Why wasn’t she - oh. Silver glinted in the taller one’s hand. His stake. The duel ended in seconds. Still coughing a horrible gasping rasp, the female’s arms came down too slowly to block. The stake rammed home into her chest, into her heart. She collapsed, but not before desperately scrabbling at her opponent, ripping the mask clean off. That was… where had Tao seen him before? Just as his mind was about to make any sort of connection, his shredded and bleeding shoulder and arm squealed for attention, effectively cutting off any sort of deep thought. He looked down, just for a second, and when he raised his gaze to scan his surroundings the vampire was gone. The dead one (properly dead this time) was still crumpled to the ground. Shakily, Tao groped for his phone.

\---

“Tao!”

“Oh shit, let’s see if we can get you up man - there you go.” Jongdae slung one of Tao’s arms over his shoulders, Jongin taking the other side. Red handprints stained the pole he was leaning against. “Tao speak to me.”

“It was that guy.”

“What?” The pair managed to manhandle Tao into their car (a black, sleek ride every squad had in their possession). Jongin had the foresight to drape the backseat with towels. Gently holding open one of Tao’s eyes, Jongdae inspected the irises carefully for that small ring of red that indicated a mirage, just how Yixing taught him to when they first started working together. He sighed in relief.

“Tao, what guy?”

“That… guy.” Red blooming on white towels behind him, Tao frowned. “He… seen him before.”

“Ok Tao.” Jongin waved Jongdae off, sliding into the backseat with the still muttering Tao. The car purred to life and Jongdae shot off. There was no question to where they were going. Working or not, Yixing was going to be in Mapo.

“Jongin.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t bring me back to HQ like this.”

“We’re going to Yixing.” The younger patted Tao’s head, balling up several extra towels and pressing them to his wounds.

“Also - ah…” Tao winced, “Did you find anything in Yangcheon?”

“Absolutely nothing. Don’t worry about it Tao, let’s get you patched up first, ok?”

 

* * *

 

 

There were so many humans around him that Joonmyun was almost certain he was on the wrong track. Yangcheon was too busy, too noisy, too _alive_ for something like him. But the scent trail ran true, winding past small open shops and dancing around corners. His legs assumed a forced march of one, two, one, two as he walked, purposely letting his gaze flick all over the street, hand jiggling in its pocket. Just like a human. It’s when Yangcheon’s roads bleed into Mapo that Joonmyun paused, breathing deeply. At night it wouldn’t have been a problem, but in full daylight the scents were too diluted, dissolved by the constant movement of civilians in the street. Joonmyun continued to chase until the trail faded completely. He’d lost it. Stumped, Joonmyun stared helplessly around him.

“Ah, Suho!” The familiar voice startled Joonmyun and he looked back to see sleepy eyes and a sweet face.

“Good morning, I didn’t think I’d meet you here Yixing.” The squad medic was dressed casually, woolly sweater and jeans against the cool weather. His sleeves were too long, leaving only the tips of his fingers. He must have been wearing contacts the last time they met, because now simple black glasses perched on Yixing’s nose.

“Are you working today?”

“I’ve been forced to take leave.” Yixing answered wryly, “Apparently I look too tired to handle a scalpel.” He joined Joonmyun, walking down the road. The vampire took this chance to really _look_ at him. He’d heard a lot of things about Yixing from Minseok, mainly about how he was almost executed once for implying vampire-human coexistence. Out of pure politeness, Joonmyun asked,

“Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

“Not yet.” Yixing turned to face him, lips turned up in a smile. “Would it bother you too much to go for a cup of coffee?”

 

That’s how Joonmyun ended up sitting on one of the rounded plastic chairs outside a pleasant café, looking like a rich, well-dressed boyfriend humouring his equally rich and hot girlfriend. At least until Yixing returned from ordering their drinks and took the seat across him. They sat awkwardly. Well, Joonmyun sat awkwardly whilst Yixing seemed content to prop his chin on his arms and smile serenely at the crowd passing by.

“So has your office started applying the updated safety regulations?” Yixing didn’t look at Joonmyun when he spoke.

“Before I left for break, we managed to replace the silver lining on the windows.” Joonmyun shrugged, “By the time I return, they should be tinted and curtains should have been installed.”

“I’m curious, how often do you check workers for mirages?” Yixing tilted his head, staring sideways at his companion across the table. There was something in his gaze that made Joonmyun distinctly unsettled, something that was focused, experienced and dangerous. 

“Well, we don’t employ AVPF squads to do scans. The company requires medical forms every three months with proof.”

“Have you had any cases of forgery?” Suddenly, Joonmyun realised Yixing was very much awake, eyes sharp under half-closed lids. Joonmyun’s mind froze even as he shook his head,

“Never, it is quite a safe neighbourhood.” The vampire stayed tense, trying not to stare too hard at this human. He settled on locking his sights onto a couple across the road, painfully aware of Yixing’s unwavering stare. Joonmyun tried to remember to breathe. Humans needed the air. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait for long. He heard the waitress walking long before she reached the table, smiling gratefully at her as he accepted his drink.

 

“So you specialise in toxins?”

“Yes, it’s how I got into AVPF.” Yixing sipped at his cappuccino, hands completely hidden by knitted sleeves. “I took a case concerning feeders and my research gained a lot of attention in the police force.”

“So do you only work part time or?”

“AVPF employed me to work there exclusively. I don’t really see human patients other than cops anymore.” Waving playfully at a toddler who was staring at him, Yixing had the same dreamy quality to his speech. However, there was still that splinter of awareness there that kept Joonmyun on the edge of his seat. “The hospital here is the closest to our headquarters so I frequently come in to use their equipment.”

“Do you have any advice for an innocent civilian like me?” Joonmyun asked playfully, more at ease now that the medic wasn’t dissecting him with his eyes. His own long black was half finished, steaming slightly.

“I’m afraid I can’t provide more information than the government can.” He paused, frowning into his cup. “Stay indoors after dark, have something silver on you at all times, keep your curtains closed at night.”

“Do you honestly think it helps?”

“Honestly?” There was that piercing look again. “I think the precautions are absolutely useless.” A nearby family left their table, glancing back awkwardly and bringing their cups with them. Seeing their faces and almost being able to smell the fear off them, Joonmyun realized his mistake. Normal humans, civilians like he was _supposed_ to be, didn’t speak so easily of his kind. Whispering it was like the equivalent of stripping, running down the highway nude and yelling FUCK at the top of your lungs. People didn’t like to talk about vampires. Well, he already tripped up, might as well keep going.

“Why do you think that?” Joonmyun quickly gulped down the rest of his drink. He needed to go before he did something really stupid.

“A lot of people forget about things when it’s bright and the sun is out.” Yixing’s gaze was unwavering. “They forget that things hide better in the light than in the dark.”

Ok. Time to get out of here.

“Sorry, did I make you uncomfortable Suho?”

“No, not at all.” If Joonmyun could still sweat he’d be wiping it off his forehead by now. There was a mess of excuses on the tip of his tongue to leave, but Yixing’s phone got there first, buzzing to life on the table. Yixing picked up, cup still pressed to his lips, and only looked away from Joonmyun when he started to talk.

“Jongdae? I’m not in the hospital right now… what’s wrong?” Joonmyun turned away politely, ears easily picking up Jongdae’s voice. It sounded worried.

“Xing, can you just meet us in the hospital in ten minutes?” The corners of Yixing’s lips turned down,

“Who got hurt this time?”

“Tao.”

“Five minutes.” It was interesting, watching Yixing change completely into another clipped, professional demeanour. He had walked in as Xing, hair peeking over his eyes and hands hidden shyly in his sleeves, and now stood up as Dr Zhang. What had lurked behind his eyes for the entirety of their conversation now took over completely.

“My apologies, I’m afraid I have a very sudden appointment I must attend to.”

“Not at all, I need to get going myself.” Joonmyun stood too, the two of them winding their way around the other colourful tables. They’re about halfway out when the same waitress breezed past them, balancing empty plates and cups precariously. She passed without incident and Joonmyun didn’t think much about her. Until a shattering crash echoed in his ears and the sweet scent of fresh blood filled his head.

 

Joonmyun held his breath, whirling around to see the poor woman on the floor surrounded by white fragments of porcelain. Her hand had landed squarely in the sea of jagged pieces and red ran freely over her skin. He automatically grabbed a wad of tissues from a nearby table to give to her when a warm grip on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to meet Yixing’s stare, and it was neither the unfocused sheen nor deeply perceptive looks from before, but a flat, almost hostile glare.

“Could you give those to me Joonmyun?” His hand was at his waist and how on earth Joonmyun hadn’t noticed this before, there was the outline of a holster there. Stake or a gun, either was just as bad. Joonmyun forced himself to stay relaxed and dragged in a lungful of air heavy with that delicious scent. _He doesn’t know. He can’t know… Can he?_

“Of course, you’re the doctor here.”

 

They weren’t kept for long, maybe a minute at the most, for the other staff members waved them away, bringing the waitress back inside with tissues pressed tightly against her injuries. When they made to part ways, Yixing offered his hand to shake, his sleeve riding up and revealing his hand for maybe the first time the whole morning. So Joonmyun never noticed it before, a metal ring banding his second finger.

“It was nice meeting you Suho.” The silver ring glinted at him like a challenge, and it was so blatantly obvious now that Yixing _knew_ , knew that _Joonmyun_ knew he knew. There was no way he didn’t, like he was just waiting for Joonmyun to slip.

“It was my pleasure.” The vampire smiled pleasantly, gripped the other’s hand and tried not to scream. He could almost _hear_ his flesh sizzle over the metal. His gums ached, fangs wanting to drop, but he put a cool lid over the ugly thing inside him that was absolutely shrieking in pain and kept his eyes a warm, chocolate brown. The handshake seemed to last forever. When Yixing finally, _finally_ released his grip, he did so in a way that dragged the searing pain down Joonmyun’s palm and across his fingers. There was no way he did that by accident. Joonmyun’s skin throbbed dully and he immediately closed his hand in a fist to hide the angry burns that must be littering his pale skin.  Zhang Yixing was staring at him again, curiosity back in those orbs.

“Did you need anything else Yixing?”

The medic blinked. “I guess not. Get home safely Suho.”

 

* * *

 

 

In the cramped room backstage, the dancers of Yonsei University’s jazz club were stretching out on the wooden floor, filling the air with mindless chatter. Second year Oh Sehun couldn’t find it in himself for banter, looking up hopefully at every open and close of the door. Jongin and Tao were late. Jongin and Tao were also working this morning. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together and no, the answer wasn’t gwiyomi. His soreness didn’t help, aching legs resisting the gruelling moves he set them to do.

“Sehun, are your friend’s showing up?” The club director looked pissed.

“I don’t know, they are -”

“Yes, yes I know they’re sucker cops but their attendance is disgusting.”

“We can do fine without them.” One of the girls rolled her eyes and Sehun swallowed down a slew of malicious comments, choosing to just shrug and continue with his stretches. Normal people didn’t fucking _understand_. They blamed AVPF for every single vampire thing that goes wrong and do nothing but talk shit until they really needed help. And it’s not like the cops flaunted their jobs, it was just inevitable for it to come out eventually and when it did, god save the cop from judgement. The whole complex doesn’t usually show up, but it was especially bad for Tao and his ‘Huang’ status. His family was by no means the only founding family of AVPF, there were several big ones in Korea. He was Chinese and his Korean was accented. There. That’s the problem. But no Sehun you’re lying, there aren’t any problems like that anymore because all of humankind are one, a united front against the monsters that plagued us all around the world. What utter bullshit. He didn’t look up when the door opened again so when someone tapped his shoulder he turned with a scowl on his face.

“What the fu - Jongin!”

 

“Tao’s fine he just got a thrown around.” Jongin answered before Sehun could ask.

“That’s the most contradictory statement I’ve heard. Are you alright?”

  
“Yep. Peachy.” Both of them were wearing turtlenecks. Huh. Good thing this showcase was casual free dress or they’d all be skipping.

“Are Xing and Dae coming to watch?”

“They’re with Tao, Minseok may come though.” Jongin’s hands flutter over each other, bouncing from toe to toe. He was by far the best dancer out of all of them, still concentrating on ballet and contemporary. Jazz was just another fun outlet for him. Even after all those years of practice, he’d still be the most worked up before a show. It wasn’t hard for Sehun to imagine his friend as a future dance teacher of some sort. He planned to quit AVPF when he graduated. “Oh yeah, there’s also those first years and transfers coming to watch the show.”

  
“Transfers?”

  
“From Goyang.”

\---

Kyungsoo was well on his way to gaining his ‘don’t touch me or I’ll rip you apart’ status within his orientation group. His morning classes were much the same, consisting of him resolutely hiding behind the screen of his laptop and pretending to pay attention to the lecturer, even when he’d learnt all the material maybe a decade ago. If anyone so much as looked in his direction, he’d glare back. When group projects rolled around, he’d probably slide into some awkward group and end up doing all the work, but oh well. He couldn’t have everything he wanted in his undead life and that was fine by him. It was going perfectly to plan until lunch rolled around and he found himself tucked away in the corner of the cafeteria, watching other students flock to the dance theatre for some sort of modern jazz performance Kyungsoo had no interest in. At least, until he glanced up and saw Minseok’s unmistakeable face outside the cafeteria’s glass walls. Sufficiently interested, Kyungsoo made his way over, reminding himself to walk slowly. It would be a little troublesome if someone called him out for being a vampire.

“Minseok.”

“How’s your first day here at uni?” Minseok had merely removed his apron, leaving him in a pressed white shirt and slacks. He still smelled of coffee, tea and every other human food you could possibly serve at a café.

“Disgusting.”

“You might not want to see this.”

“Why not?” Kyungsoo was now more than sufficiently interested in this whole dance thing. They were almost at the entrance.

“Jongin’s performing.”

“Oh.” Kyungsoo pursed his lips. “So?”

“My friend, I don’t want Jongin to track you down and stake you.”

“Bah.” The shorter vampire brushed him off and strode inside.

 

“We’re technically not supposed to know each other.” Minseok looked about warily as they settled into their seats.

“We can just say you recognised me from last night. Anyways, aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Lunch break.” Minseok smirked mischievously, “I’m a pretty good barista so they give me some leeway.”

“It’s your face.” Kyungsoo nodded sagely, watching the theatre fill up as the stage stayed empty. “Your face brings in half the customers.” Minseok growled at him, miffed. Some sort of kpop remix started blaring out on stage along with the appearance of several dancers and the audience turned their attention to watch. It was peppy, hype and absolutely nothing like jazz.

“The hell is this jazz club?”

“Just wait for it…” And Kyungsoo did. He waited until the melodies morphed into smoother cadences and darker tones, watched the dancers switch out. He’s several bars into the mood change when recognition slapped him across the face, making his jaw drop. He was dimly aware of Sehun’s tall lanky frame, but that person in the middle of it all was neither the stuttering, nervous feeder nor the reckless cop he met before. This person moved like he owned the place, full of sleek, rolling movements that let him glide over the floor. Not smooth in the way vampires were, but in a more natural way.

“Where does he get the practice if he’s off being a sucker cop all the time?” That was definitely Jongin - he couldn’t have mistaken the human’s face - executing sharp pops and rolls with apparent ease.

“Only Jongdae, Tao and Yixing work full time at AVPF. The only reason why Jongin is there is because he got adopted into Tao’s family.”

“Adopted?”

“His parents were killed when he was a child.”

“So he’s like your Jongdae.”

“He was barely five, Dae was fourteen.”

Kyungsoo took his gaze away from the performance to frown at his friend. Minseok didn’t look back but Kyungsoo could almost see the answer in his mind. A young couple, maybe walking back home just a little later than usual, maybe already at their front door, maybe rushing home after dark with a toddler in tow, and the red eyes that followed them.

\---

Dancing was exhilarating for Kim Jongin, he loved the way it let him move, let him melt into the beat. He’d always leave the floor with a grin, swiping away the sweat on his brow and today was no exception. Jongin had one foot over the raised wooden step separating backstage from the real world when he looked up and saw Minseok grinning at him. Then his attention slipped past him and it was as if time stopped for a second because holy _shit_ that guy walking out of the theatre looked a lot like - his lagging foot promptly caught on the ledge and he went crashing to the floor.

“It seems as if our dancing machine ran out of oil.” Sehun was laughing when he helped him up and Jongin forced his lips up into a grin, still trying to get a glimpse of that figure which had disappeared out the door.

“Jongin do you want to go to lunch or something? The rest of the squad are coming.” Minseok waved his hand in front of the younger’s face, “Sehun, you’re invited too.”

“Sounds good.”

“Jongin?” 

“Uh yeah, I… I’ll meet up with you there!” It was as if he was struck by lightning, resolved to his decision. Jongin jogged off with a scant wave.

“Wha - wait!”

\---

“Kyungsoo!” Jongin scanned the tables in the cafeteria. The vampire should be able to hear him, even amongst the racket of students, so that meant it was ignoring him, just like before. Well, then he’d just have to repeat what he did before too. The cop walked out of the cafeteria, ignoring the curious stares of first years and transfers. With the way gossip ran like wildfire, all the newbies should know the cops or cops-in-training by now. As he walked, Jongin pressed his fingers to his neck, felt the band aid through the turtleneck, and felt the wound throb. At this rate it won’t ever heal properly, but he was going to find this vampire goddammit. Jongin looped around the university, determinedly waiting for Kyungsoo to show.

 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The break in silence startled Jongin. He had been ten minutes into his endeavour and passing through an empty part of the art facilities, most of the rooms here packed with paper and paints. He kept looking forward, not turning to confirm the face of the vampire behind him. He didn’t need to.

“I was looking for you.”

“Well, stop. It’s irritating.” Kyungsoo slid silently around him, scowl on his features. “Why the -”

Jongin didn’t let him finish his sentence, drawing a knife from his pocket and slicing in a vicious upstroke. A cop always had a weapon on him. The vampire had retreated to a safe distance, eyeing the silver blade warily.

“What do you want with me kid?”

“There are a spike of incidents in town, all of them vampire attacks and murders.”

“So?”

“None of them are identifiable. You’re not in the databases.” There was a sun bomb in his jeans, but Jongin didn’t know if he could reach it in time if Kyungsoo attacked him. He didn’t have to worry because the vampire had put his hands on his knees and started to _laugh_ .  
  
“If you stake me, you’ve got the wrong guy.”

“And I’m just supposed to believe that?”

“I guess you can’t.” Kyungsoo was still smiling his heart-shape smile and Jongin shivered when he remembered them on his throat. “But I can tell you that I’ve recently come from Goyang, so you won’t have shit on me.”  
“If you came from Goyang we’d still have records.”

“If you were serious about killing me you would’ve told your squad.” Kyungsoo turned on his heel and started to walk away, leaving Jongin gaping after him. “Now get off my case.”

 

It was a long, troubled walk to his friends. He knew why he didn’t tell them. Kyungsoo simply didn’t _feel_ like a killer. Jongdae would scoff at him, how would he know? But this vampire had told him his name, his real name, and ratting him out now felt like an odd betrayal of trust. Kyungsoo didn’t tell hordes of vampires to attack him. And what he said at night…

 _You may want to consider getting a new job._ Maybe Jongin should. Maybe he should quit AVPF early, no matter what Tao’s family thought of him. The twelve-year-old Jongin who was so bent on being a cop saw the whole thing as some sort of superhero dream come true. Twenty-year-old Jongin thought differently.

 

* * *

 

 

“Of course we have a mirror in the bathroom.”

“Yes, bathroom aesthetics remember?” Chanyeol wrapped his arms around his mate and they both stared at the reflective glass. He could see their new bedroom mirrored through the open door, walls empty and devoid of colour. A new place. “I think we’ll be fine here.”

“We can leave Luhan to his forever-single-moping.” Baekhyun’s fingers still buzzed with music, having had four intensive one-on-one lessons with determined, young violinists. He loved it when music flowed endlessly from his instrument. Chanyeol hummed in his ear, a tune he must have been picking out on his guitar with his own students. He loved his music, but he loved Chanyeol more.

“Do you think Luhan is scared?”

“Luhan’s never been scared.” Chanyeol sighed and the couple walked back to the bedroom, flopping down on the mattress. The fabric smelled of nothing, they hadn’t been around enough for their scents to sink in.

“Of course he has, all of us have.”

“I don’t mean it _frightened_ scared.”

“What other way can you be scared?” Baekhyun propped himself up on his elbows, giving his mate a quizzical frown. He had an idea of what Chanyeol was speaking of, but he couldn’t quite form a word for it.

“I think he dreads the end of this thing he has with Sehun. Luhan’s never been the best at feelings.”

“Mmmm yeah.” At some point in their immortal lives, Luhan had made all of them cry at least once, blatantly spouting words like a broken tap. “And Sehun’s human too. That plus Yi Fan’s…” He trailed off. Vampires couldn’t succumb to disease, could only die with a stake through their hearts, but that didn’t mean their mind was invincible. None of them were prepared for Yi Fan’s streak of depression after that Huang girl died. The couple stayed quiet, only their breathing audible to their ears. Baekhyun burrowed under Chanyeol’s arm, pillowing his head on his chest.

“I think Yi Fan scared everyone off romance highway.”

  
“So it’ll just be the two of us versus five lonely old bachelors for eternity.”

Baekhyun laughed, curving up to bump heads with his lover.

“That sounds fine to me.

 

* * *

 

 

Three espressos, one long black and two mochas are already packed neatly into a bag. Minseok’s nose wrinkled when he poured out a double espresso for Yi Fan. He still can’t understand how he could down the whole thing in one shot. If there was one thing that they had in common was coffee, no matter how sweet or bitter they liked it. Minseok shuddered as the image of Baekhyun dumping spoonful after spoonful of sugar into the rich dark liquid. It wasn’t blood, but it was pretty close to it for them. It was wasteful, to eat human food without needing it, so they stuck with drinks. Even as the oldest, Minseok can’t quite remember exactly when drinks became almost exclusively coffee - it must have been maybe fifty years after it started getting made in Yemen, and that was… god how long ago was that? 16th century? 15th? Somewhere around there.

Done with his coffee, he waved goodbye to the next shift of employees, winked at a gaggle of girls who always arrived an hour before he left, and walked out the café. It didn’t take him long to get back home, less humans on the streets so late in the afternoon. The sun was orange and blinding with the promise of sunset and Minseok stumbled down into his underground nest half-blind. His nose worked well enough though, and apart from Joonmyun and Yi Fan he could scent the rest of his coven. All except -

“Ah Baek and Yeol are gonna be the last ones again.” Luhan was sprawled out on a couch, Kyungsoo perched on the armrest looking frosty and irritated. Yi Fan had his head in his hands, elbows on the coffee table where Minseok deposits the take-out drinks. Flitting out of his room, Joonmyun helped him arrange them, folding up the plastic bag neatly.

“Joon, what happened to your hand?” Minseok caught his wrist, turning his arm so he could see blistering red burns across his palm.

“It’s fine.” Joonmyun gently detached himself, “I’ll tell you when the rest arrive.”

\---

Baekhyun swore they’re never late to a meet up, but as always, they were the last to walk in.

“Oh good, I thought you two were christening every room of your new nest by fucking.”

  
“Luhan, just because you’re a lonely old sot -”

“Can we not do this?” Joonmyun looked torn between laughing and scowling. The seven of them sat comfortably on the floor, standing, leaning over each other. If they had body heat it would have warmed up uncomfortably fast but alas, the air stayed chilled and cool.

“Alright so how did tracking the rogues go?” As usual, Baekhyun piled the sugar into his coffee.

“My hand kind of slipped and I killed one of them.” Yi Fan hadn’t moved to touch his drink, head still in his hands. There was a beat of nothing, the rest of them expecting him to continue. The tall vampire looked up. “Oh yeah and my mask fell off. I don’t think he recognised me though.”

“Who?”

  
“Tao.” Yi Fan groaned into his double espresso, “Minseok, is it normal for one-man teams to go hunting around for a freaking _coven_.”

  
“Well no, but Tao isn’t your normal cop.” Minseok frowned, “He gets sent out by himself a lot, none of it is under my control.”

  
“So we can assume that the coven in Guro has moved to another location?” Joonmyun steered the conversation back onto its tracks, directing his question at Yi Fan. Minseok’s entire squad was a problem, not only for Yi Fan, but the rogues were more important.

“They’ve definitely moved, unless they’re stupid.”

“Ok, because they may have moved closer to Mapo. The trail I tracked blew straight past Yangcheon before it disappeared.” Joonmyun sighed, “There’s probably no trace left of it now.”

“And your hand?” Minseok raised an eyebrow.

  
“I ran into Yixing and he coerced me into accompanying him.”

“Wait did he try to attack you!?” Baekhyun bounded off Chanyeol’s lap to inspect Joonmyun’s hand. “Oh my god this is really bad -”

“No! He wasn’t aggressive at all. At least, not the way most cops are.” Joonmyun took his hand back and winced a little. “But I think he knows.”

“He probably does. I’m pretty sure he knows about me too.” Minseok said, “I don’t think we need to worry too much about it. Yixing is a little… eccentric? Different?”

  
“There’s an easier way to classify this, will he stake you if he gets you in a room alone?” Luhan crossed his arms, scowling.

“No. Unless we look like we’re going to kill anyone.”

“Bam. Done, the Xing problem is solved.” They lapse into silence, sipping at their drinks and deep in their own thoughts.

“What about Jongin?” Everyone whipped around to look and Kyungsoo, his voice breaking the ice that seemed to have frozen over the air.

“He won’t act upon anything if he doesn’t see the need to.” Minseok finished the last of his coffee, checking the time on his watch. He needed to leave soon to meet his squad. “The one we need to worry about is Dae. He’s a classic cop.”

  
“Min, you need to handle your problem.” Chanyeol and Baekhyun shared a look, “You can’t act human forever.”

“I know.” Minseok sighed. Chanyeol sighed in reply and Baekyun huffed his own breath of exasperation. Joonmyun, Kyungsoo and Yi Fan took a deep breath.

“If anyone sighs one more time I’m gonna bite them.” Luhan glowered at his coven. When they kept their brooding silence, Luhan sighed. They froze, staring at him in amusement. The same angry twist to his lips, Luhan snarled, “Fucking hell.”

Baekhyun started to chuckle, squirming in Chanyeol’s lap. The noise was infectious and the seven of them were laughing in seconds, momentarily forgetting the stress hanging about them like a cloud. Minseok stopped chortling long enough to choke,

“I need to get to headquarters, I’ll tell you if anything comes up.”

 

* * *

 

 

Every piece, every room, every inch of AVPF’s headquarters had rooted themselves deeply into Tao’s childhood. Days full of sweat and achy muscles with Jongdae and Jongin, the tang of antiseptics and uniform white walls of the medical bay, always accompanied by some sort of stinging pain and Yixing’s sleepy grin. No tears though, he wasn’t allowed to cry. On the higher floors came hours of boredom, memorising and studying material years ahead of the other children with cop trainees twice his age and later, with Minseok’s cat-gaze scanning the documents with him. All this coalesced into one focal point in his life, a simple grey door with neat black letters printed over the wood. The head of the police force had the personality of tempered steel, stiff and poised and powerful.

When he was eight, he was shown this room for the first time. His father had seated him on the hard wooden chair behind the desk and told him that this was his place, his duty. Tao was his best hope, his only son. Now Tao knew that wasn’t true, he had a plethora of cousins and nieces and nephews who shared his Huang name. More than once he wished he wasn’t the director’s firstborn son.

When he was fifteen, he used to anticipate trips to the door, either hopping in excitement or dragging his feet in dread. Most trips ended well, first scout, first mission, first kill. Some were full of lectures and shouting, with Tao cringing in front of the desk. In front of the director. In front of his father. Now, as he stood stiff-backed, trying not to wince at the pain in his shoulder, he hated all their meetings.

“Come in.” The director’s voice was the same as ever. Tao remembered trying to guess his motives sometimes, when he didn’t know what he was being summoned for. This time, Tao fancied he could hear the irritation in his father’s tone. This time was definitely a lecture. Gaze fixed resolutely forward, Tao stalked into the room, coming to rest before his father’s desk. A desk that would eventually be his.

“Sit down Zitao.” Tao obeyed, perching straight and proper on the edge of his seat, keeping his hands settled in his lap. He didn’t want to _touch_ this desk. His eyes had dropped away from his father’s sharp features and silver hair. He jerked, startled when papers were slammed into his field of vision. It took him a moment to recognise his own words, his own report laughing back at him.

“First, you go cavorting around on some spontaneous expedition without your squad captain.”  
“Father, I believe it was a decent opportunity to -”

“Then why aren’t your targets dead?”  
Tao bit back his reply, forcing himself to look up into steely eyes. He couldn’t hold that gaze for long.

“Even worse, you lost a fight with them just this morning and you still dare to walk back here with a report.” There were _five_ of them, a small coven’s worth of leeches. What could Tao have done? The director waited, as if challenging his son to open his mouth. Tao pursed his lips, it was easier to keep his mouth shut and let everything blow over. He couldn’t refute him.

“The leeches that escaped you in Guro, you will handle those by yourself.” Tao’s eyes widened in disbelief. He’d need a full squad to handle something like this. He swallowed,

“Of course father.”  
“I expect you to do all you can. Don’t disappoint me Zitao.” The director waved him away, “Dismissed.”

 

Minseok was waiting for him outside, the captain still in bright, casual clothes.

“How’re your injuries?”

“Still healing, I’m not going to be any good in a fight for at least a week.” Tao groaned, instinctively rotating his shoulder again.

“Don’t move it!”

“I’m really ok Minseok.” The younger (but taller) cop started to walk off down to the meeting rooms, he always preferred taking the stairs for some reason. Behind him, Minseok huffed in exasperation and jogged to catch up.

“Hey Minseok.” Minseok made a small, curious noise, tilting his head at Tao. They stopped halfway down the stairwell. “What will you do when you don’t want to be a cop anymore?”

His captain stared at him for a long moment and it struck Tao just how _old_ he looked. Not in the physical sense, he looked the youngest out of them like that, but in his eyes. It was like hanging out with Xing sometimes, watching the serious doctor through his eyes. Minseok didn’t have that sharpness to him, no piercing glint, but there was something there. Kind of like starlight, a light that had shone for too long and would shine for longer yet.

“I’ll stay for as long as I can Tao.”

Tao’s heart clenched, a familiar feeling of loneliness constricting in his chest. Jongin would leave him, Xing would too when he could no longer endlessly run down the streets of Seoul. Jongdae would stay, but not with Tao, not with Tao behind that desk. Jongdae would be a cop, a true cop until the day he died. All of Tao’s squad, his brothers, would leave him someday, would leave him to that grey door and the title that came with it.

“I’ll stay for as long as you want me to Tao.”

Tao’s head snapped up in surprise, not caring how vulnerable and desperate his next words sounded.

“Don’t leave me, promise me.”

\---

Minseok smiled and held out his hand, pinky finger extended. “I promise you Huang Zitao, I’ll be there as long as you want me to be.” It was like he had uttered some sort of enchantment. Minseok watched Tao grin back, watched the crinkle between his eyes disappear and his face turn into a boy’s as they hooked fingers. Tao _was_ just a boy for fucks sake, not even twenty-one yet, so why did he always look like he was thirty?

“You’ll have to be around me forever.” Tao laughed.

“Unless you drive me off.” Minseok joked and Tao didn’t pick up on how worried Minseok really was. Of course Minseok would be around forever.

“Never.” Tao smirked, starting down the stairs once again. “C’mon captain, we’ve got a meeting to get to.”

\---

“Alright, so Tao is supposed to be investigating those vampires from Guro by himself.” Jongdae set the file of papers down on their table with a thump. “But I declare that bullshit and worthy of ignoring so we’re gonna try and track them down tonight.”

“And you decided this when?” Minseok raised his eyebrow, he and Tao only just slipping into the room.

“Oh hey captain.”

“Don’t hey me.”

“Dae, I don’t think you guys can help me with this one.” Tao snatched the file off the table. “I need to do this by myself.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Jongin took the papers back before Tao could react. “Xing, Seok you guys need to say something!”

“He’ll be fine by himself.”

“He can do it.”

Jongin and Jongdae gaped at the two oldest squad members whilst Tao grinned and plucked the file back into his hands. “Hear that? I can do this.”

 

They weren’t on patrol tonight, just supposed to meet up and get their schedule down for the week. Most squads were in a frenzy going after the second group of rogues who disappeared in Yangcheon. It doesn’t take too long before they have everything set out, who searches where, who collects what, and Minseok released them almost half an hour before eight, reminding them to wake up at two tomorrow morning for their patrol shift. Jongdae, Tao and Jongin left, playfully pushing and shoving each other. Minseok would have left with them, but Yixing was still rooted in his seat. He’d been there long enough to know when the medic wanted to talk.

“What’s up Xing?”

“Minseok.” Yixing lifted his head, propping his chin on his hands. “Suho is not really his name is it?”

The vampire froze, a chill creeping up his spine. “Who?”

“I saw you talking to him at the tea shop.” So he wasn’t asleep. Minseok should have known.

“Why are you so curious Yixing?”

“Why are you so calm?” The medic yawned, head collapsing back onto the table. “How long did you know I knew what you were?”

“I’ve had my suspicions. I wasn’t worried, you’re Yixing after all.” And that was true, being around Yixing was like being around another vampire. There was no malicious intent, they trusted each other.

“So what _is_ his name?”

“If you really want to know, you’ll have to find him yourself.” Minseok shrugged, “He won’t bite if you don’t.”

\---

“Wait Dae, where are you going?” Jongin stopped to look questioningly at Jongdae, who had headed down the stairs instead of up to their rooms.

“I’m just going to walk around a bit…”  
“We have a patrol in six hours, I think you can survive.” Tao put his hands on his hips, “Wait a little more before whipping your stake out would you?”

“I’m not bringing any silver with me!” Proving himself, Jongdae opened up his jacket, revealing the lack of weapons. “I’m really just going for a walk.” Tao and Jongin stared at him, scepticism mirrored on their features.

“Try and get some sleep before we get out ok?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

 

So what if Jongdae didn’t have patrol? The dark streets were familiar to him and he went straight for his target. Walking around in Yangcheon earlier that day led him to two very familiar figures, two figures who didn’t notice him tag behind them all the way back to their nest. They had their masks on, but there was no mistaking the ridiculously tall and averagely short statures of those leeches they had failed to capture. The cop settled in at the end of the road, falling into the familiar pattern of sitting and waiting. His scent they won’t be able to pick out of the hundreds that had passed this street. His heartbeat they won’t be able to hear amongst the others living on this street. He just had to keep as still as he could, as still as a human could be. Jongdae would wait here for the next six hours, until he saw _something_. Just one more confirmation.

 

Jongdae didn’t have to wait for long. Laughter bounced down the street and the two figures appeared, walking slowly. He still couldn’t make out their features, not at this distance. The leeches popped open a manhole cover and descended under the tarmac, black shadows melting into the darkness. The opening shut with a muted metallic thud and Jongdae  stayed still as a statue, waiting for them to re-emerge. When the minutes ticked into an hour, Jongdae shook out his limbs and strode away. He got what he wanted. This time he’d catch them. He’d catch them for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up with the commmennnnttttssss  
> You can also scream at me on twitter [@Willow4448](https://twitter.com/Willow4448?lang=en)


	4. Trap Beat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooook yo yo yo some stuff I need to write down here  
> \- Jinki is real name of Onew (from Shinee. Other Shinee members Jonghyun, Taemin, etc will also be mentioned)  
> \- Yerim is real name of Yeri (Red Velvet) and Irene also from Red velvet  
> \- Also. I. Spell. It. As. FAVOURITE. With a ‘U’.  
> \- Basically all the characters are from SM entertainment

After five years on the job together, Jongin and Tao had a decent system going for 2am patrol shifts. The alarm would blare between their beds at 1:30am and Tao would whine and curl up in his blanket whilst Jongin picks it up and flings it at him. 10 points if you hit Tao’s foot, 20 for his shoulder and 50 for a headshot (it’s a wonder the thing hasn’t broken yet). Jongin would shower first, then brush his teeth. Tao did the opposite. At 1:50 precisely, Kim Minseok would knock on their door and call:

“Five minutes!”

Their captain didn’t live in headquarters – had his own place somewhere – and they used to try and trail him. They’d always get caught, and the fun of tracking Minseok wore off by the time they turned eighteen or so. Tao would help Jongin strap on his stake and vice versa, double-checking their tools of trade. Then they’d be racing down the stairs where Jongdae would always be hiding, ready to stick his foot out and trip them. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, but the trio would always come to a laughing stop at the bottom of the stairs, at the feet of a sleepy Yixing. Yixing would have five cups of coffee and a pile of muffins on hand. Jongdae would practically inhale a muffin as they skidded their way to the building’s parking lot (they would often have to piggyback Yixing there) where Minseok would already be waiting for them. The coffee and muffins would disappear in two minutes and Minseok would always hand his muffin to Tao. They would always be dressed in blacks and greys, even though there wasn’t a specific dress code.

 

“Jongdae you look like shit.” Tao wiggled his fingers in front of Jongdae’s face as they climbed into their assigned patrol car. “How long was your walk last night?”

“I got three hours of sleep and I _feel_ like shit.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Nup.” But Jongdae winked conspiratorially at Tao and Jongin, the two older squad members out front engrossed in starting the car. Jongdae had something planned, and whenever he had something planned it usually ended up with dead leeches.

“Ok guys, we have an emergency call, a missing squad from the Sosa district.” Minseok checked the log reports on his phone.

“Who’s squad?”

“Mark’s.” The captain reversed out of the parking lot in one go, smoothly turning out onto the dark streets of Seoul. “Their last message was at sundown last night, another squad from Incheon tried to get there a minute ago but they’ve gone missing too.”

“Sosa is damn near to Guro.” Jongdae rolled his shoulders, feeling his joints pop. “So what’s the plan captain?”

“We’ll pull up to their last known location. You and Jongin will circle one side of the building complex, Yixing, Tao and I will go around the other.” This time it was the three in the backseat who missed Yixing and Minseok’s meaningful gaze. Yixing and Minseok usually teamed together, with Minseok fighting enough for two. Tao was still too injured to be useful in a fight, if they had any choice then he wouldn’t be working, but there was a constant shortage of sucker cops that never seemed to change. Yixing tilted his head back and spoke softly, so softly he was barely moving his mouth, but it was loud enough for Minseok to hear.

“Are you expecting an attack?”

Minseok shrugged, eyes on the road. _You can’t be too careful._  

It was eerily quiet, an eeriness they’d all gotten used to after spending so many nights as the only humans wandering the streets. Whatever clubs or other night raves for the foolishly young were still open, but all was dark in their area. The smiles and jokes stopped when the car doors slammed. Minseok motioned for Yixing and Tao to follow him left, Jongin and Jongdae departed the other way silently. It was a big block of land, full of towering businesses, a fire station and other darkened buildings. Minseok led them and Tao brought up the rear, leaving Yixing and his gun in the middle. It wasn’t too long until they came across another patrol car, empty. They didn’t stop. 

 

“Fuck.” Tao stared at the mess in front of him. Blood looked black in the moonlight, and with how fresh the liquid was, it seemed as if oil was spilled all over the fence, bodies in monochrome. He didn’t recognise the cops’ dead faces, they were probably new to the force. Yixing didn’t even bother to check for a pulse.

“Tao, call it in.” Minseok’s tone was even, calm like he should be, but his eyes were sharp and wary. Before Tao could dial HQ, his captain was tugging him backwards forcefully, almost tripping him up. Yixing’s gun went off, pointed at the space Tao was standing in a mere second before. In his place, something snarled. Something with fangs and red eyes and a face that looked vaguely familiar because -

“It’s from yesterday!” Tao whipped out his stake, but Minseok got there first. The leech died with a surprised look on its face, staring at the captain in disbelief.

Tao pulled out his phone with numb fingers. They needed to report this to headquarters. “This is Tao from squad three, squad from Incheon has been found dead.”

A pause.

“Understood. Sending back-up. Do not move from your position.” With the curt order, they were left alone with the dead. Tao couldn’t help but glance uneasily into the night, the rest of the rogue vampires must be out here somewhere, so then where were they?”

“I hope the other two found Mark’s squad.”

\---

“Jongin, I think I found the rogues in Yangcheon.”

“Is that where your walk went last night?” Jongin stared wryly at his friend’s back. “Have you filed it in to the system?”

“Nope.”

“… Why?”

“Just kidding, I have.”

“ _Dae_ –“

“But they said I could deal with it myself, it’s only two leeches after all. Plus, everyone’s still going apeshit about the leeches in Guro.” You could hear the satisfaction in Jongdae’s voice.

“So what’s your plan?”

“Well, I need you for starters.”

“You’ve got me, but why aren’t you getting everyone in on this?”

“Tao’s got his shit-to-do dish served up to him by his director dad, Yixing’s probably doing whatever research investigation study thing in Mapo and Minseok’s not working until tomorrow evening.”

“ _I’m_ not on patrol again until tomorrow either!”

“You’re living in HQ. Do you want in or not?” Jongdae turned around to smirk at him mischievously. Jongin sighed,

“Yeah ok.”

“Great, I’ll catch you up on it later.” They rounded the next corner, spotting the rest of their squad. Moonlight glinted off unsheathed stakes. Behind them was…

“Fuck.” Jongdae mirrored Tao’s reaction exactly. 

The squad didn’t need to think as they shifted into a defensive semicircle, their backs on the scene behind them. Darkness hemmed them on all sides, the cold making them shiver (except for Minseok). They had to stay here. There was a big case that exploded in their first year as a squad, vampires attacking and killing cops then dragging their bodies away. The corpses would turn up in the river, in the rubbish dump, in all sorts of places months after their disappearance. Tao shifted, trying to roll his stitched-up arm. It was going to be a long shift.

 

* * *

 

 

“Minseok what’s wrong?” The phone was on the table, put on speaker. Joonmyun, Yi Fan, Kyungsoo and Luhan listened.

“I just got back from patrol, I can’t talk for long, but that isn’t the point. The rogues massacred a squad this morning, same thing that happened before but no message this time. The fact that their victims were cops is enough. Another squad went missing, just vanished.”

“Where?”

“Sosa, vampires same as the one in Guro.”

“Well, now we know where _they’ve_ moved to.” Luhan wrinkled his nose in disgust. “What do these assholes want?”

“They want to be noticed.” Yi Fan growled, “If they keep going like this, they’ll force all the local vamps to either act up with them or get the hell out of Seoul.”

“The sucker cops won’t exactly be too worried if whoever they catch are actually rogues or not will they?”

“Probably not.”

“Will there be any increased patrols around Mapo?” Kyungsoo propped his elbows on the table, leaning over the phone.

“Not that I know of. Try avoid going further south than Yangcheon though.”

“We’ll need to tell Baekhyun and Chanyeol.” Joonmyun bit his lip, the two mated vampires had both their jobs and their nest in Yangcheon.

“I’ll call them afterwards.”

“Oh and also, Yixing said he wanted to meet you again?”

Joonmyun paused for a good five seconds. “Does he… know?”

“Yup.”

“He’s not going to kill Joon is he?” Luhan dragged a hand over his eyes, still sleepy from last night’s bubble tea shop shift.

“If Joon doesn’t try to bite him. Ok, I have to go -”

“Be careful Minseok.” Kyungsoo glared at the phone, “If you get caught we’re all crashing your stupid headquarters.”

“Don’t worry.”

“We’re pretty fucking worried.” Luhan snapped. Beside him, Joonmyun tried not to smile. Luhan had the strangest ways of showing affection.

“Minseok it’s going to be all of us or nothing. Stay safe. We’ll meet up again at lunch?”

“I expect to see all four of you alive.”

“We’re already dead.” Yi Fan’s lips twitched into a smile at his own wit and the rest of them snickered. Joonmyun hung up.

“Alright, let’s get tracking.”

\---

There were humans on the streets of Mapo already, even if the turn of autumn had the sun rising later than before. Several shops were open, yellow rectangles of light shining from their windows. Without a word, the group split apart, running in different directions. Snapback and mask pulled over his face, Luhan flew past drowsy streetlights, faster than the lone car speeding its way to an early start to the day. He closed his eyes, let the scents flood his senses. Most of it was human, of mundane human things. Breakfasts starting on microwaves and stoves, stale alcohol lingering from the events of the dark and small electric hints of drugs that must have changed hands between yesterday and today. Or gone up someone’s nose. Or into someone’s veins. Hey, you know five times the number of humans died from abuse of substances than they did by vampires? But no one cares about that. 

There were also less human things, probably things that passed within inches of those party-goers and druggies. Some were familiar, Luhan could recognize Jonghyun and Soo Young’s distinctive scents crisscrossing occasionally over his path. Their covens must have been searching recently too. Then there were the unfamiliar aromas, still reminiscent of the cold, slightly mossy smell of vampires. The rogues were active last night too. So Luhan followed his nose, slowing down around civilians and speeding up when he could, hunting down his prey. 

These guys were careful, Luhan had to give them that. They knew how to cover up their trail.

 _But,_ Luhan thought smugly, _not good enough to throw me off._ He had stopped at the entrance to an underground carpark to pull his phone out of his pocket.

*Found them. Carpark under Sorea Industries.* It didn’t take long. Yi Fan arrived first, followed by Kyungsoo then Joonmyun, all of them appearing where nothing stood a second before. 

They approached silently, soundless in a way only they could be, eyes blowing out crimson the closer they got to the nest. It would have been imperceptible to a human’s ears, the hollow sound echoing under their feet. Their eyes flickered to the floor, then to each other’s. Kyungsoo was the one who found the secret door, situated at the very back corner of the parking lot. The four of them stood there, heads cocked, and they all come to the same conclusion at the same time.

“It’s empty.” Yi Fan dropped to his knees, starting to lift the grate that obstructed their way to the nest below. “They’re smart.”

“We’ll check this out first, then try and pick out any more trails.” Joonmyun frowned at the opening in the ground. “Do you smell that?”

“All I smell is blood.” Luhan shrugged, then jumped down through the opening.

There was silence as they slipped into the nest, finding themselves in what looked like a small apartment. The smell was stronger here, faint but lying in wait like decaying things hiding under dead leaves. It was a curious mix of sweet human blood and -

“Fuck, they’ve _turned_ someone.” Yi Fan stared at the bloodstains liberally smeared across a couch, gingerly reaching out to touch. The red had lost its sheen, but it was still damp, sticky on Yi Fan’s fingers.

“ _Multiple_ someones.” Luhan moved closer to inhale deeply, scrunching his face in disgust. “Everything’s so mixed up, I can’t separate one person from another.”

“It’s too fresh, they mustn’t have completed the turning yet.” Joonmyun’s voice floated to them from the other rooms. “So why would they move half-turned humans?”

“Why or how doesn’t matter. What will we do _now_?”

“Let’s still split up, run around the area and see if we can pick up anything else.” Kyungsoo was already back out the nest, nauseated by the scents. The rest of them follow, replacing the grate as it was before.

 

“They split up again, fuuuuuuuck.” Luhan groaned, tipping his head back to glare at the sky. “I can’t smell anything anymore.”

“Neither.”

“Damn.” Yi Fan tried not to snarl, there were a couple of business men speed-walking down the pavement nearby. “Great, so we’ll run around blind for the whole day and see if anything turns up.”

“That sounds like a horrible plan, but it’ll have to do.” Sighing, Joonmyun started down the left when Luhan stopped him.

“Dude, you have a date remember?”

Joonmyun stared at him blankly.

“You need to sort your shit out with that Yixing guy.”

“I was actually thinking of just avoiding him.”

“That sounds like self-destruction in a nutshell, he’s friends with Min, you can’t not see him.”

“But…”

“And Mapo hospital is this way.” Luhan propelled the helpless Joonmyun in the opposite direction. He froze for a few seconds, looking back at three smirking faces. Then Joonmyun grumbled, jogging away.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh shit, Mark.” Tao paled at the sight of white, blank faces. The only sign of colour on the five dead cops being two deep purple holes punched into the sides of their necks. Mark and his squad had been bled dry.

“Where were they found?” Yixing was calm, inspecting the bodies with a detached, clinical expression.

“Outside headquarters, right by the front.” The poor cop trainee who found them on her way into the building couldn’t look at the corpses.

“How?”

“I didn’t touch them!” She started to cry, “I didn’t realise what they were at first, they were just there and they didn’t have any _clothes on -_ ”

“Hey, hey look at me. Breathe.” Jongin steered her further away from the corpses, grasping her shoulders. “Breathe, that’s right, look at me.”

“Sorry, sorry I just -” A shudder ran through her body. “At first I thought they were sleeping you know? Like some drunks who had too much fun at night, but then…” They didn’t get much more out of her. 

“She won’t last.” Jongdae’s face was blank as he watched the trainee get steered out of the lab. Tao and Yixing didn’t have to ask what he meant, cops couldn’t last long in their line of work if they tripped on every dead body they stumbled across. “Where’s Minseok?”

“Still reading through the reports, I think he’s on to something.” Yixing started clipping on tags to cold flesh; approximate time of death, cause of death, age, height… “I’ll have to sit with them on transport to Mapo hospital, keep them in the morgue there.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” Tao and Jongdae were ushered out of the room.

“Mmmm, come meet me in another hour or so? What’s the time?”

“Almost seven.”

“Meet me outside the hospital… maybe eight fifteen?”

“Sure, see you Xing.”

With a sweet dimpled smile and a wave, Yixing closed the door gently.

\---

“Minseok, do you want to come with us to Yangcheon?”

“I’ve got friends I need to meet up with at lunch, will it take long?” Curious, wide eyes look up from the computer at Jongdae.

“Just to meet Xing out at the hospital in an hour or so. We were thinking of grabbing breakfast or something, drop Jongin off at uni.”

“Where’s Tao?”

“Here.” The cop in question waved around the door to the captain’s office.

“Aren't you supposed to be attending a uni lecture too?”

“Nope.” It sounded smug, but also a little sad. “I’m supposed to be focusing on the rogues in Guro remember? Father pulled me out of classes until I’ve finished.”

“You don’t need the classes anyways.” Jongin shoved him playfully, “You completed everything like what - three years ago?”

“Har har.”

“Ok, let’s go.” Minseok powered off the computer without waiting for everything to shut down. 

At eight fifteen the four of them were outside the hospital. At nine o’clock, Yixing walked out.

“Xing what the fuck.”

“I forgot.” The medic grinned sheepishly at the floor, scratching his head as Jongdae rolled his eyes.

“Ok, breakfast. We need to feed you.” They end up in Minseok’s café (not really Minseok’s, but he’s worked there so long that they identified it so), with pancakes and syrup piled on their plates. Minseok had declined the food, opting for one of those green-shake smoothies that had Jongin and Tao wrinkling their noses in disgust. As the captain watched, Yixing missed the forkful of pancake to his mouth and didn’t even seem to realise it, staring vacantly off to the side with one of his zoned-out expressions. Jongdae nudged Yixing under the table, startling him.

“Hey, you ok?”

Yixing shook his head. “Just tired.”

“Did you find anything unusual about… Mark?”

“I haven’t been able to do a full study yet, but everything in the current report is so far true.”

“I’ve been thinking about these rogues…” Jongin chewed thoughtfully, “What do they want?”

“Probably blood. Killing people. The usual vampire things.”

“Jongdae, be more creative.” Tao snorted and almost choked on his mouthful of food, missing Minseok’s grimace. “That can’t be the answer every single time.”

“But it’s the same thing every single time, it’s vampires.” Jongdae shrugged and scooped off some of Tao’s syrup onto his own plate, ignoring the cry of dismay.

“I think…”

“Yixing please, if this is another of your ‘vampires have feelings’ lectures I swear to god -”

“They’re trying to get attention.” Minseok silenced Yixing with a kick under the table. Yixing’s reproachful ‘ouch’ was lost under the noise of the café.

“But Minseok, why do they want it? Aren’t they wary of AVPF or cops or anything?” Unlike Jongdae, Jongin kept his voice quiet. They were in a public place after all.

“Maybe they’re just resentful of running around all the time, especially in such a well-protected city as Seoul.” Minseok tried not to sigh at the way Jongdae was picking at his food, completely uninterested in the new topic of conversation. “And they wanted to kick up.”

“The other covens in the area would be affected too wouldn’t they?” Tao frowned onto his empty plate, “If AVPF have an increase in patrols and all, we’d definitely catch some of the local leeches.”

“How would we be able to tell the rogues from the locals though?” Jongin tipped his last pancake onto Tao’s plate, who then flipped it off to Jongdae.

“We could -”

“No Yixing we can’t ask nicely.” Jongdae looked at the medic, exasperated and amused.

“Then you make a suggestion.” Yixing flopped tiredly to the side to lean on Minseok, patting the captain’s knee once in consolation.

“Does it matter? They’re all vamps.”

“Jongdae.”

“What?”

At this point, Minseok stood up, cup drained. “All right, I need to get going.”

“Already Min? What’s the rush?” Jongdae looked up at him, surprised by the sudden motion.

“I promised to run an errand with someone, I’ll meet you back at HQ tomorrow morning.” The captain waved on his way out, catching Yixing’s meaningful gaze.

 _Tell me if you find anything_. His eyes said. Minseok jerked his head in a barely perceptible nod, then he left.

 

“Xing, why on earth are you getting three take-out cups of extra-large double espresso?”  
Yixing met Tao’s concerned face with a dead straight face, “I intend to work for the next twelve hours straight. You all can go on without me, get Jongin to class.”

“Then we’ll see you at lunch, even if we have to drag you out.” Jongdae punched him lightly.

“Lunch? Since when did we agree to do anything for lunch?”

“Since five seconds ago, we need to make sure you don’t turn into a statue or something.”

“Wai -”

“Ok bye Xing!” The three youngest squad members bolted, taking the first right turn and starting to make their way to Yonsei University.  Yixing shook his head, collected his shots of energy when they were ready and walked slowly back to the hospital.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a strange feeling, to be walking the streets around Mapo hospital and leaving everything to chance. The morning sun beamed down happily, not quite enough to warm the orderly roads still chilled from night. It was past eight o’clock already. Kim Joonmyun liked order, the neatness of expectation. Yixing was like a massive crack in the smooth porcelain of society, something crazy that could bring the whole piece crashing to bits. But it was a type of defect that just made it look irresistibly better than before. Joonmyun was curious, that much was obvious. Cap pulled up over his head and suitably dressed against the cooling weather, the vampire turned the uppermost corner of his route for the fifth time that day.

“Suho!” There he was, blue hospital scrubs doing little to hide the goose bumps dotting their way up his arms. No glasses today. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.”

“I guess it’s just coincidence…” Joonmyun casually dragged his eyes up the other’s body. The ring was still there, so was that sharp edge to his gaze. With the same sweet curl of his lips, the medic sidled over.

“I forgot to ask for your number the last time round. If you’re free right now -”

“Actually, I wanted to speak to you.” The vampire fiddled with his cap as Yixing tilted his head curiously. “Do you know of a quieter place we can talk?”

Yixing looked like he was the epitome of unprepared, phone halfway out of his pocket and three coffees tucked under his arm. Joonmyun didn’t look at any of that. By now he knew Yixing held back a world of knowledge behind his eyes and he was never going to look anywhere else. The medic didn’t answer him, just frowned thoughtfully as his hand looped around Joonmyun’s wrist, forcing the vampire to follow.

 

Yixing floated through the hospital doors like a daydream, warm fingers still on Joonmyun’s cold skin. The medic breezed along, past curtained-off areas and counters and computers. No one gave them a second glance. Joonmyun wondered if Yixing could feel how tense he was; the corridors _reeked_ of blood, both fresh and stale. Even hidden under a muffling carpet of antiseptics and alcohol, blood was still blood and a vampire will always be a vampire.

“In here.” Yixing closed the door behind them, leaving the human, the vampire, one hospital bed and an inactive set of monitors alone in a small space. Joonmyun didn’t have to check to know this room had no security cameras installed. The company he worked for was the one who set up the hospital system.

“Minseok said you wanted to see me?”

“Why are you in Mapo?” Oh, so it was going to be like this.

“Why did you even bother to call me yesterday?”

“Why were you in Mapo yesterday?” Parked on top of the hospital bed, Yixing swung his legs, blinking slowly at Junmyeon.

“What were you -”

“Is your name really Suho?” His sharp voice cut the questions, legs going still as his stare bored into Joonmyun’s.  Like this, the space between them felt like nothing. The silence was deafening. Yixing slid off his seat, sheets rustling and sending a wave of warm scent over Joonmyun, to close the distance for real. “I told you mine, it can only be fair if you told me yours.”

Joonmyun pursed his lips together; the door was right behind him. He could leave, get out of here faster than the human could breathe, but when he glanced behind him he could see a glint of silver running around the doorframe.

“Why would my name not be Suho? It has always been Suho.”

“Theoretically speaking,” Yixing’s eyes said that it was anything but a mere theory, “It would only have to be Suho until _after_ your birth certificate.”

“Theoretically, nothing comes _before_ birth.”

“Unless there was something before birth.”

“ _If_ there was,” Joonmyun stressed the ‘if’, “Wouldn’t it be dangerous to be in close quarters?”

“I’ve had ways of testing out my second theory.”

“Pray tell.”

“Well, in theory -”

“Let’s stop with the whole theory thing shall we?”

“Ok.” Impossibly, Yixing got _closer_ to him. “You’re a vampire.”

Joonmyun kept his silence.

“But…” There was playfulness in Yixing’s words, one that reminded Joonmyun of long sleeves, black specs and a dreamy smile. “You’re one of the good ones.”

 

“How -”

“You haven’t bitten me yet. Also, I’m pretty sure you’re one of Minseok’s coven.” It was then that Joonmyun realised, Zhang Yixing was insane. What sort of human willingly locks himself into the room with the most dangerous predator in the world? “Your eyes barely went red yesterday. How did you do it?”

“… Practice.” Satisfied with the one word answer, Yixing skipped back and returned to his perch on the bed, pleased that Joonmyun (a.k.a Suho) was going along with the topic.

“Ok, so then how -”

“How many vampires do you come across and not report?” There was nothing satisfying about watching Yixing’s smile drop off his mouth, it was too painful.

“It usually doesn’t come down to me.”

“What gave me away?”

“The way you… move.” Yixing gestured distractedly up and down the vampire’s figure. “You walk around well enough to pass as normal, but when I was up so close, I couldn’t help but notice. Your hands don’t tremble, the way you breathe is too minimal - your diaphragm only lifted enough to accommodate shallow huffs - and your skin, most people would pass it off as natural, but it was too smooth.” Joonmyun shifted on his feet, suddenly conscious of how still he’d been standing the whole time.

“Not too pale?” That wrung a laugh out of the medic.

“We both know that myth doesn’t apply. There are plenty of dark-skinned vampires.”

“How long did you know about Minseok?”

“A month after we started working together as a squad.”

“And how long have you been…” Joonmyun motioned helplessly, unable to convey his question. “Why are you so peaceful? Accepting?”

“I’m a surgeon. I’m supposed to save lives, but ever since I started working for AVPF all I’ve really done is take them.” Yixing was no longer looking at Joonmyun, his intense eyes directed at his knees.

“We’re not alive Yixing.”

“Define alive.”

“Beating heart, flowing blood, need to breathe, etcetera.”

“I define it differently.” And the stare was back again. “If you can think, if you can _feel_ , you’re alive. It’s not like you’re the only monsters, humans are plenty terrible too. What do you think happens to those captured vampires?” So it was true. Experimentation, torture, everything and anything under the sky could happen to vampires. Rights only applied if you were ‘alive’.

“My name is Joonmyun.”

“Great. Mine’s Lay.” Yixing burst into laughter at Joonmyun’s stupefied expression. “I’m just kidding, I really am Yixing.”

“Well then, can I go now?” Joonmyun fought the urge to roll his eyes and waved his hand at the door behind him. “I can’t exactly pass the silver line on this thing.” With a shy smile still on his lips, Yixing opened the door. They’re halfway down the entrance steps when Yixing stopped him.

 

“Joonmyun, have you seen the news lately?”

The vampire squinted back at him, eyes still adjusting to the sunlight. “Yes. Yes I have.”

“Be careful.”

“I’m not the only vampire in Seoul, we have our own way of dealing with rogues.”

Yixing shook his head, “It wasn’t them I was talking about. It’s the cops Joonmyun, they -” He fell silent, uncertain. Patiently, Joonmyun waited. “They’ll kill first and ask questions later.”

Joonmyun leaned forward; slow enough to look human, fast enough for someone like Yixing to _know_.

“We’ve survived centuries around hunters and cops Yixing. If anyone needs to be careful it should be you.” He let red dilute the browns of his eyes, “You take too much risk Zhang Yixing.”

“I guess Minseok has talked about me.”

 “I’ll get your number from him.” Joonmyun allowed himself another second to stare at this strange human. Then he turned and strode quickly away, melting easily back into the warm flow of humans.

 

* * *

 

 

If any of the professors saw him, Kyungsoo was going to be in deep shit, vampire or not. He had been following his nose, the trail of vampire scent probably leading to absolutely nowhere, and he had somehow ended up in front of Yonsei University. Kyungsoo wasn’t even there for five minutes before he felt something sneaking up on him, stalking up slowly and -

“BOO!”

“Sehun, you’re really loud.”

“At least act scared.” The tall, lanky kid looked miffed. “What are you doing here?”

“Has Luhan told you anything about the attacks happening around town?”

“A little.” Sehun huffed, pouting his lips. “He won’t say much about it except ‘be careful’.”

“Well, there’s a good chance the crazy vampires are hiding around in Mapo somewhere.”

“Oh…” They lapsed into silence. “Wait! Why didn’t he tell me that?”

“Probably worried about you.”

Sehun scoffed, “Please, he doesn’t give a damn about what happens to me. I don’t even think we’re friends with benefits. It’s more like acquaintances with benefits.”

It was teetering on Kyungsoo’s tongue, the urge to say that Luhan was just horrific at conveying emotions, but the vampire bit it down. He guessed it was more painless like this, with Luhan adamantly denying everything and Sehun oblivious. So instead, Kyungsoo laughed.

“Yeah, he’s an asshole.”

“Excuse you.” Speak of the devil. Mask discarded and bleached hair swept messily over his forehead, Luhan slapped the back of his head. Kyungsoo hissed at him.

“Woah guys keep your vampiring to a minimum we’re in a public space.” Sehun held up his hands, “Also, no Luhan I’m not free. I have classes.”

“I wasn’t going to ask anything.” The petite vampire breezed past him. “Anyways I gotta get going, have you found anything yet Soo?”

“Nothing.”

Luhan left.

 

“The whole coven’s meeting up for coffee around lunchtime, you want to come?”

“Can you come get me at eleven?” Sehun had somehow managed to drag the unwilling Kyungsoo onto university grounds, the vampire tossing worried glances around him. Really, no one gave two fucks if some student missed a lecture, but it would have been a pretty big deal when Kyungsoo was alive, some centuries ago. Some habits didn’t die.

“Sure, have fun in class. I’m going to run around a bit more.”

“Can you tell me if you find anything? I don’t think Luhan will.”

Kyungsoo flipped him a thumbs up, jogging away as Sehun slouched into the lecture theatre with his folders and notebooks in hand. He turned the corner to get out of the building, running past the dance studios on his way out.

\---

“Wait a moment you sucker.” A hand wrapped itself around Jongin’s shoulder, spinning him around. The cop came face-to-face with a senior. Well, it was more like face-to-chest, Jongin wasn’t quite that tall. Jongin sighed inwardly, he couldn’t even get a practice room peacefully and the dance studios were half empty. What now?

“Yes?”

“Clarify something for me would you?”

“Of course.” Jongin flinched at the phone that was shoved into his face. It took him a moment to focus on the text, _AVPF squad next victims of vampire attack -_ How on earth did media get a hold of this already?

“Is this true?” The senior - Jongin didn’t know his name - glared down at him. His expression didn’t look more like a sneer than a frown. Jongin sighed, audibly this time, and twisted out of the grip on his shoulder.

“I am not in any authority to answer -” Jongin cut off in a wordless sound of surprise when the grip returned, this time around the back of his neck and forcing him to look up into the other’s face. Several students had come to watch.

“Look at those eye-bags, if you sucker cops have so much time to run around at night spying on us partying maybe you should invest in better training.”

“Let go of me.” 

“Ohhh scary. What are you going to do, cop?” He shoved Jongin hard and Jongin fell to the ground maybe ten times harder because basic muscle movements just don’t happen after a 2 to 7am patrol. Jongin lay there for a second, eyes flicking away to glance at the growing onlookers, then froze in recognition. It was the cop trainee girl from this morning. She still look shell-shocked, like she couldn’t comprehend _why_ exactly Jongin was on the floor. The easy way to answer that: he got pushed. The more complicated answer lay in _why_ he got pushed in the first place. Jongin flicked his eyes to the side quickly, _get out of here_. If the senior got his hands around her she’d be crushed, cops trained to be _speedy_ not brawny. There’s a moment of relief when she backed away, clutching her bag to her chest and please - _please don’t have a panic attack I’m a little busy right now_ \- then his back left the floor, yanked up by a hand fisted in his collar.

“What are we supposed to do if the suckers who’re are supposed to protect us,” The back of Jongin’s head smacked into a wall, “keep dying? Where’s your Huang friend huh? Skipping classes again?”

“That’s none of your -” Jongin managed to get his arms between them, shoving the taller boy away with a grunt. “ – business. Now I’m sorry but I have to go -” Something snaked around his ankle and Jongin found himself on the ground for the second time that morning, groaning.

“Let _go of him you fucker_.” Ah fuck, the trainee didn’t go away. Jongin was released, groaning, and looked up just in time to see her rake her fingernails across the senior’s face.

“You crazy _bitch_ -“

“ _Fuck_ you.” She screamed, “You, you -” The girl looked half-deranged herself. “Fuck _you_. How dare you – Mark _died_ for the likes of you. I wish they didn’t. I wish _you_ died instead -”

Jongin clamped a hand over her mouth, felt warm, sticky tears on her cheeks and started to drag her away. No matter how much he agreed with her, how fine he was with letting her rip into the guy, he couldn’t let her do it. They were cops, trainee or not, and they had to act like it. Jongin grit his teeth,

“My apologies, she’s quite tired and -” He ducked a punch. No, no he was way too tired and strung out to deal with any of this right now. Still dragging a writhing girl in his arms, Jongin couldn’t dodge the next one no matter how far ahead he saw it. However, the fist didn’t connect with his face.

“You’re really fucking noisy.” Oh, that voice was familiar. Do Kyungsoo had his hand tangled in the back of the senior’s shirt. In a heartbeat, the vampire tossed the guy to the floor, looking awfully strong for someone so short. Then again, _vampire_.

“Hey Jongin.” The cop could only gape as Kyungsoo looped one hand around his wrist, another on the girl, and towed them away, completely ignoring the still-sputtering bully on the ground. The three of them ended up in an empty studio, Kyungsoo turning his back to the mirror that took up the entire wall. They sit in silence for a while, until the girl gave one last sniffle and stood up.

“I need to get to class.”

“Wait, hey – what’s your name?” Jongin hoped his smile was reassuring and nothing like the wreck he felt inside. She flushed,

“Irene…”

“Well, I’ll see you back at headquarters sometime Irene.” It looked like it took a lot of effort, but she returned his smile before leaving the two alone. Kyungsoo sighed, swivelling on feet to face the mirror as she disappeared out the door. Jongin stared, unnerved by the murky, shadowy mass of his reflection.

“Uh thanks, for that.” Jongin rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“You’re going to have to look over your shoulder for that asshole every time you walk down a corridor.”

“I look over my shoulder all the time.”

“Well, have fun with that. I’ll be going now -”

“Wait!”

“What now?” Kyungsoo scowled, “Is it a stupid question? No I didn’t kill that squad -”

“Do you know who did?” Jongin tried to look professional, like how Minseok and Tao always seemed to be. It didn’t work with the way he was slumped on the floor, looking like an insomniac. The silence stretched for a long time.

“No I don’t, they’re new in town.”

“Do you know where their nest is?”

“Getting there.”

“Will you tell me -”

“No.”

“Why?"

  
“Let us deal with our problems. You’re human, stay out of it.”

Jongin bristled in irritation. “I’m a cop.”

“Look where that landed you.” Kyungsoo gestured outside. “None of _these_ guys see you as human.” My god that was painfully true. Jongin opened his mouth, ready with some sort of half-assed reply, only to snap it shut again as Kyungsoo stalked out of the room. He ran to the door, peering around, but the hallway was empty. So Jongin shut the door, locked it, crammed himself into a corner of the practice room and closed his eyes. He’d wake up in an hour or two to dance. He just… needed to rest for a bit.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey lovebirds!”

“Hey you sotty bachelor.” Baekhyun waved cheerfully at Luhan as Chanyeol snorted into his coffee.

“When are you supposed to teach the little kiddies how to music?”

“First class at ten thirty.” Chanyeol managed to choke, “What’s happening with the rogues?”

“Couldn’t find them, nest was empty, but we think they’ve turned some humans.”

“So I guess by the time twenty-four hours are up and the humans are completely vampirised we’d just have to follow the trail of blatant murders right back to the rogues.” Baekhyun and the other two curled closer together, keeping their voices low.

“Joonmyun probably wants to keep the body count to a minimum, but they seemed to have completely disappeared.”

“And Yi Fan?”

“What about Fanfan?”

“Is he ok?”

“He’ll be fine, Baek. It’s not like - oh wait.” Luhan grimaced. “I was going to say it wasn’t like the ghost of little Miss Huang had risen from her grave to haunt him, but in a way she kinda has… hasn’t she?”

“Joon?”

“He texted me five minutes ago so I’m pretty sure he didn’t get staked.”

“Kyungsoo?”

“Just left him and Sehun at Yonsei University.”

“You?”

“What about me?” It was visible, the way Luhan immediately slammed shut at the question. Baekhyun and Chanyeol sighed.

“Nothing.”

“Also we’re all meeting up at lunch, Anshan park."

 

* * *

 

 

“Yixing c’mon, spend time with the living.” Jongdae had his arms circling the medic’s thin waist, literally dragging him out the hospital doors.

“Wait! Just give me ten more minutes…”

“You said that at eleven o’clock and it’s now twelve, everyone’s waiting outside.” With a big heave, Jongdae tossed the limp Yixing over his shoulder and crashed out the door. Jongin and Tao were waiting for them, matching grins on their faces.

“Aaaaand Xing is alive!”

“Stop yawning Xing, let’s go eat - hey!” Jongin yelped when Yixing reached out and grabbed a handful of his shirt, pulling down his neckline. “The bite’s healed over already, you don’t have to check every ten minutes.”

“Where’d you get that bruise from?”

“I… fell over in dance practice.”

“Onto what?” The sharp doctor eyes were back. Jongin looked away.

“The… floor.”

“Mmmhmm.” Of course Yixing suspected, but he stayed silent, mouth opening in another yawn

“Uh, Xing do you want to get out of those scrubs?” Tao glanced down at the medic’s clothes, Yixing seemingly unaware of his current state of dress. Yixing blinked.

“I’ve left my clothes inside, I’ll just go get them right -”

“Oh no you don’t.” Jongdae grabbed Yixing before he could slip back through the doors of the hospital. Yixing pouted when Tao walked in instead.

“I’ll get them for you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of doing that myself.”

“We won't risk losing you again.” Jongdae laughed, releasing Yixing only when Tao came striding out the hospital with knitted sweaters and jeans folded neatly in his hands.

 

“Ahhh, too bad Min isn’t around this time.” Jongdae moped. The four cops had forgone a healthy lunch, opting for cheap take out food. They stood with their rice-cake skewers and fried squid and chicken, munching down happily. It seemed to have a reviving effect on them, the food loosening their tongues and making them laugh at every small joke thrown from their mouths.

“Captain has a life, he’s out with his other friends right?” Jongin sucked the last of the meat from a chicken bone, tossing it with precise accuracy into a nearby bin.

“Yeah.” Jongdae’s answer came on the tail-end of a sigh. He knew Minseok liked to eat steam bums and enjoyed hotpots, his favourite colour was blue (also incidentally Jongdae’s favourite colour). When he got bored, Minseok would sing; a whole range of songs he could belt out in their original key, like he’d practiced a lot before. He told Jongdae he wanted to be a singer once, when he was a little kid, until he joined AVPF. Singing was nice, Minseok had dragged Jongdae down for karaoke a couple of times. It turned out that Jongdae was pretty decent at the whole thing too, but he didn’t think much about it. He had no time as a cop. In the mornings, Minseok would be the first all geared up for a patrol or a mission, kept his desk the neatest out of all the captains and liked to play football (also called soccer, depending on what part of the world you lived in). Yes, he knew a lot about Kim Minseok, but still…

“I wish I knew his normal friends.” Jongdae made a face, it sounded like a terribly childish thing to say, but his squad knew what he meant. Minseok’s flipside to his AVPF life was something he kept carefully cordoned off from his squad.

“Dae, have you tried talking to him yet?” Yixing tilted his head, “You said you’d try.”

“I did.” He flushed, “And he said… Maybe next time?”

“WAIT what! When?” Jongin and Tao were on him in a heartbeat, nearly spilling the cup noodles he had all over his hands.

“Woah -”

“Details Kim Jongdae! _Details_!”

“I’m not lying – that was all he said to me!” They dissolved into a bickering mess. Yixing stood slightly apart, lips curled up in a fond smile and hands tucked securely into long sleeves. He hoped that Jongdae would be able to see past Minseok, vampire or no. Then again, he also hoped Minseok wouldn’t ever let him make the decision. Some things were better kept hidden, Yixing couldn’t decide whether this was one of these things or not.

\---

Anshan Park was a quick five minute walk up from Yonsei university and Minseok and Luhan loved it. A makeshift playing area marked out by trees and bushes surrounded them, the two skillfully weaving the ball between the other’s feet. There was a time they mused doing this professionally, but they were quick to discard the idea. They laughed at the idea of sending in blood samples for drug-testing and the like, only to absolutely horrify the people supposed to examine it. The score stood 4 to 4 according to Yi Fan, the tall vampire engrossed with some book and only occasionally looking up with bored eyes. The whole coven was in attendance, rolling around the grass and soaking up the sun. Baekhyun and Chanyeol – who were once again the last ones to arrive – passed Chanyeol’s guitar between them, picking out tunes on its strings. Joonmyun and Kyungsoo were stuck to Sehun, serious expressions on their faces as they caught up the human on what they knew. Sehun was almost as good as coven to them, with how much Luhan dragged him around everywhere, and they treated him as such.

“Foul – FOUL!” Luhan shrieked, “Ref call him out – Yi Fan are you even paying attention?”

“Mmhmm, free kick for Minseok.”

“Fan _Fan_.” Luhan tackled him with a whine as Minseok laughed and neatly kicked the ball through their goal.

“Oh my god get off me.”

“You’re terrible.”

“I don’t play football, soccer, whatever that game is.”

Hand clutched to his chest in mock pain, Luhan rolled off him and lay prone on the grass.

“Yi Fan you hurt me.”

“Where did my book go?”

“You and your favouritism to Minseok.”

“Here.” Kyungsoo picked up the rather battered paperback novel and tossed it back to Yi Fan.

“Stop ignoring meeeee.”

“Ugh.”

“Guys, let’s get Sehun lunch, we don’t want him to starve.”

“Joonmyun, I’m totally fine.” Sehun sat on the grass, withdrawing a little more into his turtleneck, overwhelmed by the vampire’s constant fussing. The first time Luhan invited him to meet the seven of them, Joonmyun had taken one thunderous look at the horrific purple-red bite marks and nearly flayed Luhan alive. It _looked_ much worse than it felt, Sehun had repeated that phrase so many times, but Joonmyun roasted Luhan for it today again anyways.

“Nonsense, you haven’t even had breakfast.”

“I – wait how did you know that?”

“You’re paler than the moon.” Joonmyun sighed, “And you’re so skinny.”

“Isn’t that normal?”

“Not like this!” The vampire easily lifted Sehun off the ground, righting him on his feet.

“Joonmyun -”

“Lunch.”            

“Alright, alright! But I can get lunch myself!” Sehun scooped up his backpack, dusting off grass clippings, and grinned back at Joonmyun. “Watch me hunt.” 

 

“This was not what I had in mind when I said ‘lunch’.” Joonmyun stared sadly at Sehun and his greasy take-out Jajangmyeon.

“This is good for me.”

“You’ve hung around Jongin too much.” Minseok and Luhan had abandoned their game (mainly because of their incompetent referee) and instead bounced the ball off their knees and feet, passing it every couple of minutes. “The amount of chicken he eats…”

“Fried chicken is also very good for us humans.” Sehun nodded sagely, licking at drops of sauce. “What’s the time? I have a lecture at three.”

“You have time, it’s only one.”

“ONE!?” Baekhyun and Chanyeol jumped up from the grass, bits of leaves in their hair.

“I have a student in ten minutes!”

“I have a student in _five_.”

“Don’t run too fast.” Yi Fan said, not looking up from his book as the couple dashed off. “Where’s Kyungsoo gone?”

“I am _right_ next to you.” The vampire in question glared at Yi Fan, though the expression was met with no reaction. “What are you reading? You’re so preoccupied with it.”

“Gulliver’s travels.”

“Dear lord, since when could you even read?”

“Sehun, wanna play?” Luhan kicked the ball to Sehun, smirking mischievously.

“If you promise to keep it humanly possible.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll team with you.” Minseok winked at Sehun.

“I’ll still destroy both your asses.”

Sehun leapt to his feet, slurping up the last of his noodles. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Wait, you shouldn’t be running around after you’d just eaten.”

“Joon.” Luhan sighed. “Eat a sock.”

“Excuse me.”

“You’ve been excused.”

Joonmyun opened his mouth, about to unleash some sort of motherly tirade, when a new voice shouted.

“Yah! Sehun!”

Kyungsoo felt Yi Fan seize up, stop breathing. Huang Zitao. And also… Jongin ran after Tao breathlessly, followed by Jongdae with a sleepy Yixing in tow. Oh. Luhan immediately stepped in front of Minseok, hissing under his breath,

“Fucking _run_.”

Minseok bolted off.

“Hello _Suho_.” Yixing smiled brightly and skipped over to the vampire, plopping himself down next to him. “And Kris, Sehun, Luhan, and I don’t think I’ve met you before?”

“It’s Kyungsoo…” Kyungsoo shifted uncomfortably under the medic’s eyes. Joonmyun hid a smile, he knew _exactly_ what Kyungsoo was feeling right now. Jongin crossed his legs next to Kyungsoo.

“Hi.”

“Hi…”

“Alright, I think I need to get going too.” Book slipped into a pocket, Yi Fan stood, stretched for that extra human effect, and tried not to look directly at Tao.

“Remember to check your phone.” Joonmyun and the others waved goodbye, returning to their conversations. All except Tao, who frowned at Yi Fan’s retreating back.

\---

Tao usually didn’t hesitate in matters like this. He was the one. That vampire from Guro who had killed those rogues. But he _couldn’t_ be, because then Sehun…

“Hey Sehun, how long have you been hanging with these guys?” Tao spoke in almost a whisper, unaware of the fact that almost everyone in their group could hear him perfectly well. “Did you meet them when you met Luhan through work?”

“Yeah.” Sehun shrugged, cast one panicked glance at Joonmyun, then continued smoothly. “They treat me to food a lot.”

“You’re utilizing us, I feel it.” Luhan grumbled, back to messing around with the ball, alone now with Minseok gone. He kicked it to Jongdae with a sharp kick. “Do you play?”

“Like _you’re_ the one getting used.” Sehun muttered under his breath. Luhan’s lips twitched as Jongdae shrugged and started to tap the ball between his feet.

Tao looked up, “Did you say something Hun?”

“Nothing.” Sehun shook his head, “Jongin do you have any classes this afternoon?”

“Nope, but I’m thinking of going back to the dance studios afterwards, practice some more.” The dancer rolled over to bump shoulders with Sehun. “What time are you getting back?”

“Three? Maybe earlier?” The two started to complain about professors and projects, talking about their GPAs and exams and assessments. Yixing tugged his sleeves down, listening in with an amused expression. He poked Joonmyun,

“So… did you find anything?”

Joonmyun licked his lips nervously as the other vampires in attendance instantly turned one ear to listen. My god this was a dangerous game.

“Nothing substantial yet, they seemed to have disappeared.”

“Well I don’t know if Minseok told you yet, but we’ve found the missing squad.”

“Yes, he’s informed us of it. Is there anything unusual about them?”

“Same as you, nothing strange about them yet.” Yixing fell back, propping himself up on his arms. “I still have the whole day to study them so something might come up.”

And that was the last any of them mentioned vampires or the like for the next two hours. Half an hour in, they split into teams of four with Yixing replacing Yi Fan as the referee, pretending to keep count of the score. Jongdae and Luhan were prohibited from teaming up after three consecutive wins, Luhan swapping out with a confused Yixing. Even though Tao seemed distracted and Kyungsoo and Jongin were adamant with staying on opposing teams, everything was peaceful. They played until the afternoon turned late and the sun dipped low in the sky. Then they parted.

 

* * *

 

 

The soundproof walls kept each music classroom separate well enough, but when all you could hear was the zip of a violin case, the silence was unsettling. Baekhyun didn’t like the room when there weren’t students with him, everything too muffled in his ears. He slipped out the door, double-checking it was locked behind him, then strolled through the hallway, humming some mash-up of all the pieces he taught today. Baekhyun could hear a heartbeat. Curious, he peered out the windows, squinting at the setting sun. His last student for the day was still here, dawdling right out the front entrance.

“It’s getting dark, are your parents coming soon?”

“Mr Park!” The kid jumped, startled. “Uh – yeah they should be coming anytime now.”

“Well, I’ll wait with you until they come ok?”

“But, you need to get home too!”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Baekhyun won’t be alone.” Guitar case in hand, Chanyeol popped out the door, turning to lock that too. It was lucky that silver linings were expensive to install, or they wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. The boy nodded mutely, flushing slightly with the dilemma of talking to _two_ Mr Parks. He didn’t have to squirm for long, his ride pulling up in less than a minute. His mother nodded tiredly to the two music teachers, thanking them for waiting, and pulled away quickly, eager to get back to the safety of their homes. When the car vanished from view, the couple linked hands and started their own way home.

\---

“Jongdae, you sure this is going to work?” Jongin was desperately trying to untangle the silver nets in his hand, the metal clinking in a strangely pleasant way. It was almost seven in the evening and sunset had come to pass.

“The whole place should smell like silver, everyone wears it. The leeches won’t smell anything funny” Jongdae had his own nets folded neatly, stake strapped to his thigh. Both cops had guns holstered at their hip. “You ready?”

Jongin nodded, tucking the sunbomb hidden up his sleeve just a little bit higher. The trigger had a string looped through it, hooked up to Jongin’s finger.

“Great, ok get into position and remember the plan.”

“Jongdae wait.”

“What?”

“How do you even know these guys are the rogues?”

Jongdae crossed his arms, scowling at the younger cop. “We’re in Yangcheon. The rogues went to Guro AND Yangcheon. And even if they aren’t the rogues, they’re still leeches.”

\---

“Chanyeol, there’s someone waiting on our street.” Baekhyun smelled the human before they turned the corner, the usual mix of sweet, warm blood and sour metallic tang of silver. If he had a dollar for every piece of silver jewellery he saw, he wouldn’t have to work for the next five centuries.

“Yeah, I smell him too. Just keep walking.” Chanyeol smiled reassuringly at his mate, grip tightening around his hand. They turned the corner.

“Oh fuck, isn’t that one of Minseok’s cops?”

“Breathe, he won’t recognise us, he’s never seen our faces clearly before.”

“Ok, ok ok ok keep walking, just keep walking.” Baekhyun’s nervousness stuttered to a stop when they came closer to him. What was his name? Jongin?

“Hey, wait! You two!” Crap. Baekhyun thought for sure they’d pass by without incident. The pair turned to face Jongin, the cop looked worried.

“The sun set at least half an hour ago, it’s dangerous out.”

“We’re on our way home.” Chanyeol smiled easily, inconspicuously pushing Baekhyun behind him. The shorter vampire was as tense as a violin string, about to snap. The human fumbled in his pocket, taking out his cop badge.

“Sorry guys, I’m on patrol. I’ll need you to show me some identification.”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol shared a look, then Chanyeol let go of his hand and reached into the front compartment of his guitar case. He wasn’t looking, but Baekhyun was. Baekhyun saw the cop’s fingers straighten, had a millisecond to register the string tied to his fingertip before the street exploded in burning white light. Blinded, the bang that ripped through the air was too loud in Baekhyun’s ears.

\---

Jongdae had his eyes closed, gun propped up on the windowsill. He hoped Jongin could keep them down long enough for him to make it back to street level. The sunbomb went off, flashing red behind his eyelids, then he snapped them open, aimed carefully, and fired. He watched the shorter leech drop. He took a second to observe, scowling when it started to writhe on the ground. Must have missed its heart.

\---

Chanyeol couldn’t see. _He couldn’t see_ and all he could hear was Baekhyun’s hacking coughs and all he could smell was blood. Not the warm liquid life of humans but the cooler, sluggish flow from a vampire.

“Baek!?” He flitted, distressed, from side to side. There was a rustle, the clink of metal. Then he heard a hiss. Silver burning on vampire skin. Baekhyun started to scream.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun had set and the only indication Yixing got was of the digital clock display. Half past six. He sighed, pulling white sheets over Mark’s body, full autopsy done. Curiously, his poking around had surfaced with a whole lot of nothing, nothing unusual at all. Cause of death: Blood loss. Small trace amounts of venom through their cold systems. No ring of red in their irises so no mirage. But still… Yixing hopped up onto an empty table, the chilly metal making him shiver, and stared at them. Stared at them _hard_. There was something wrong with them, something that made him sit here for most of his day. There were pieces of paper he found, wedged under their tongues, reading a simple question: “Humans?”

Just one word. _There was something wrong with them_ and he just couldn’t quite put his finger… He had one foot out the door when he flipped back suspiciously because for a second there he really, really thought one of the five had twitched, he was sure of it -

 _When was the last time you slept Zhang Yixing?_ He admonished himself, shaking his head and getting out of the room. The door clicked shut softly behind him, white on white walls. The lights were all still on, but there was a good chance Yixing was the only one underground. Everything from ground floor up must still be busy, there was no shortage of injury even when you took vampires out of the equation. All entrances and exits to and from the hospital were lined with silver, curtains drawn against the night and - why was he thinking about all of this? Yixing cast one more glance behind him. Nothing. He walked off, blinking sleepily and thumbing over his phone. He had one text message from Tao.

*Xing, I’ll come walk you back to HQ?* Yixing smiled back at the emoticon that followed Tao’s message.

 

Behind the closed door of the lab, the metal tables stayed as cold as the bodies that laid atop them. There was nothing to warm it. The white sheets lay pristinely still, serene folds of cloth. Suddenly, the sheets bunched up, crumpled violently by convulsing fingers. Cold claws burst through the dead men’s finger nails, ripping the sheets in a flurry of sound. Cold were the fangs, slicing through their gums for the first time. Their flesh stayed cold as they started to move, but the eyes that snapped open were a fiery crimson and they _burned_. They burned with a hunger, a thirst. A thirst they knew could be sated by the beating heart they could hear, getting fainter by each footstep. When they walked, their toe tags clicked and skittered against the floor, a sound so soft, Yixing’s human ears would never pick it up. Yixing was alive after all, perfectly healthy. Mark and his squad were dead.

 

Dead… Humans?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments! Yoot yoot


	5. Mirror Shards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AnOtHeR cHaPtEr! Hoot hoot :)  
> WARNING FOR BAEKYEOL SHIPPERS  
> \- Don't worry they'll be fine... maybe >:)  
> \- I wonder if anyone can guess my exo otp...  
> There are a lot of '-' in this chapter for some reason but eh  
> ~ enjoy

Chanyeol’s eyes shot lancing pain into his skull and he reached out blindly. All he could hear was Baekhyun screaming, metal clinking together, and that hurt more than anything.

“Baek!”

“Chanyeol MOVE!” As if triggered by Baekhyun’s words, another gunshot ripped through the air, echoing in his head. Chanyeol desperately jumped backwards but he was too distracted, too late, and something pierced his thigh, something that burned like sixth circle of hell. He stumbled, acutely aware of two heartbeats very close by. The cops. Mouth dropping open in a snarl, Chanyeol pounced in the general direction of the shot, overshooting slightly and colliding with another body. A warm body. His eyesight was slowly fading back, blurry shapes shifting, moving and – that’s a stake. Chanyeol rolled off the cop in a flash. But Baekhyun, where was Baekhyun!? He spun, a sick feeling crawling up his throat, zeroing in on his mate’s writhing form, clawing away at the net that covered him.

The silver glinted prettily in the moonlight, burning ugly red marks on Baekhyun’s skin. Ignoring the deep ache in his leg, Chanyeol flitted forwards. There was a faint clink, another rustle of metallic links. Chanyeol dodged another net at the last second, it wrapped around his injured leg, sizzling against exposed flesh. Two cops. He had to remember there were two. Eyes completely red with distress, Chanyeol ripped his legs free, not thinking about the new searing burns hissing on his palms. The vampire looked up in time to see Baekhyun still crumpled under the net, barely moving now. And the first cop walked up and shot him point blank.

Baekhyun twisted in the last second, the pain in his chest doubling as he coughed out a breath. Two bullets in the space of five minutes, fuck he was lucky none of them hit his heart. He went limp, exhausted, and stared blankly at the tall figure falling to his knees beside him – _Chanyeol_. The net scraped off Baekhyun and all the short vampire could register were Chanyeol’s cool arms wrapping around him before a gun went of again. Chanyeol seized up against him, a pained groan falling through gritted teeth. Then he was being scooped up off the ground and the world started to move around him.

\---

“Xing!”

“I thought you were going to wait for me outside?” Yixing flashed his dimples at Tao, several metres from the elevator that led to the upper floors. The morgue wasn’t accessible by staircase and Tao hated to wait underground for the medic, the place freaked him out.

Tao shrugged, “I thought I’d have to drag you out of work again, ready to go?”  
“Well… I actually have to run a few more tests…”

“ _Xing_.”

“Just kidding.” Yixing laughed, herding Tao into the elevator. He was just about to punch in the buttons to get them to ground floor when a faint crashing sound reached his ears. Yixing’s head snapped up, the teasing look in his eyes dissolving into a sharp awareness.

“Tao.”

“What’s wrong?” Tao tensed, hand holding back the doors of the elevator. Yixing had yet to step in.

“I was the only person down here alive.”

Another crash resounded down the hallway, bouncing past closed lab doors and white walls. Without a word, Tao slid his knife from its sheath at his waist and handed it to Yixing, taking his own stake out at the ready. The two walked soundlessly away from the elevator, away from their escape, and Tao shrugged it off. Whoever was messing around here was probably harmless, most likely some med student who stayed here late for some unimportant reason. Tao shivered at the thought of sitting in a room with nothing but the dead to keep you company. The mindless attitude was flung out the window when they came across an open door, peering inside to see –

“They’re gone.” Yixing strode into the room, lifting the flat white sheets as if something could be hidden under them. “How can they be gone?”  
“Xing, what are you talking about?”

“This was where Mark’s squad was.” He paced frantically, pulling open drawers and confirming it was the right room. All the scalpels and discarded gloves and needles lay where they were.

“Did anyone come here after you?”  
“No one could have cleared out five bodies in less than five minutes.” Bodies drained dry. Dead for twenty four hours. So why?

“Yixing… Tao…” The whisper curled through the doorway, hoarse and soft. Tao would have thought it was just his imagination, except Yixing had paled. They shared a glance – some prank Jongdae was playing on them? White fingers followed the whispers, almost invisible against the wall, clutching at the door frame. “Yixing, it hurts.”

Yixing stared, horrified as a face dragged itself into view. Mark. That was Mark, whispering with a hoarse voice, using a throat that’s been dry for the whole day. . But that was also _not_ the squad captain he knew. His movements were smooth, like a well-oiled machine. Not like an animal, that was too alive to make a comparison. Mark did not have fangs. Mark did not have huge long, dirty, sharp claws.

 

 

Mark did not have red eyes.

 

The thing that was Mark tripped into the lab, grasping for Yixing. More footsteps came from outside. Yixing skirted around the edge of the room, Tao mirroring him on the other side, and backed away. There was no one in the corridor. But there were other things, people who were meant to be dead, but weren’t. Tao and Yixing, mute with shock, shuffle back towards the elevator. Mark – no not Mark – It followed, blood-red eyes not leaving the two humans. The others came, one, two… all five of them and oh no, no this couldn’t be happening. As if their mere appearance wasn’t enough, all of them were still naked, toe tags still attached. Squad number: 11

A clawed hand reached out imploringly. “Yixing…” Tao watched, strangely detached, as Yixing stopped.

Time of death: 7:00pm

The thing that was Mark screamed, but it wasn’t the sound that made Tao jerk forward in a panic to get Yixing back. Like an eclipse, the last remaining traces of Mark as Tao knew him left his face and turned him into something else.

“It hurts, my throat hurts.” It moaned and the others started a cacophony of yells, whispers, groans. Tao’s fingers grazed the hem of Yixing’s sleeve.

Cause of death: Blood loss

“Yixing _help us_.” Mark got to him first. _No, not Mark_. Tao thought to himself as he watched a pale hand wrap around Yixing’s throat. _Vampire_.

“Yixing help us, stitch us up.”

“Yixing, it HURTS.”

“ _YIXING._ ”

“It burns, Yixing…”

Yixing saw how the cuts he had inflicted during examination were already scabbed over. Vampires healed fast. 

“My throat, oh my god -”

“Yixing.” The thing that had been called Mark in some past life hauled the medic in closer as he choked around the grip on his neck. “We’re thirsty.”

\--- 

Chanyeol coughed violently, spat up red. The cops were getting closer. His injured leg dragged excruciatingly slow and he tried not to breath, the extra movement jostling the bullet wedged between his ribs. His burned, tortured skin slowed him down even further and black dots in his vision – the after math of those goddamn sun bombs – didn’t help either.

Baekhyun was a limp doll in his arms, barely conscious, and Chanyeol hoped he stayed that way for a while longer. Hefting the unconscious vampire onto one arm, Chanyeol fumbled for his mobile phone. The rest of his coven had teased him endlessly for never being able to use one of those stupid smartphones. He was glad he stuck with the old ones though. Luhan. He needed to call Luhan. As it rang, he looked back, startled to see the cops already turning the corner. One of them lifted his gun again and Chanyeol ducked as it went off, screaming –

\---

– in pain. Yixing had sliced up with his blade, neatly severing the tendons in the vampire’s hand and rendering the limb useless. Tao was instantly yanking him back by the collar, heart leaping into his mouth when he saw how close the rest of them were.  Almost to the elevator. Six more steps – he couldn’t see but his chest constricted with dread when Yixing cried out, the medic pulled to a stop between Tao and the vampires like some tug-of-war rope. One of them had hooked it’s claws into Yixing’s ankle, fangs precariously close to the red liquid that spilled from the gashes in pale skin. It couldn’t drink, couldn’t let his tongue run out to collect the medic’s blood because –

“Let me feed, _let me feed Yixing_.”

“Don’t look into their eyes!” Tao leaned over Yixing, stake sweeping in a deadly arc. Halfway into the elevator now. Halfway there. Yixing’s finger smashed against the button and it beeped –

\--- 

– “Chanyeol, what the fuck?” Luhan scowled, swiping at his phone with one quick, sharp motion. Why on earth was Chanyeol calling him now? Sehun perked up from his seat on the bed, still shirtless, raising an eyebrow.

“Luhan, cops are hunting us down. Baek’s injured.” Sehun watched Luhan toe over the line of ‘pretending-to-be-human’ to ‘pure-vampire’, going so still it was like time had stopped. Then Luhan burst into a whirlwind of movement, shrugging on his jumper pooled at the end of Sehun’s bed and locating his face mask thrown carelessly to the side during their messy affairs.

“Where are you?”

“We’re heading to your place, I’ll leave Baek there.”

“I’m coming, hang in there.”

“Take Baek and get away.”

“Wha – Chanyeol!”

“I can’t -” Chanyeol never got to tell Luhan what he meant to say, another gunshot, painfully audible through the phone, cutting him off abruptly.

“Sehun, I’ll call you later.”

“Wait -” But Luhan was gone.

\---

The elevator doors slid closed halfway, but Mark – the vampire – clawed its way between the metal and to Tao’s horror, it leapt inside as the doors completely shut.

_Blood. It must be Xing’s blood._

Yixing could hear the other four screeching and pounding outside the small metal box, leavings dents the size of their fists. Watching the metal buckle put an eerie calm over the two cops. They weren’t up against a squad. They were up against vampires. They were up against vampires half-crazed with thirst, easily dealt with, they’d done it so many times before. The thing’s hand was still latched around Yixing’s ankle and his poor human bones were going to snap if he couldn’t make it let go of him _right now_. Tao must have thought the same, stabbing down with his stake.

The vampire moved just in time, and Tao only managed to score a scrape down its arm. Its superior speed and strength couldn’t bring it far in an enclosed space. Tao hoped he would distract it somehow, but Yixing was still bleeding and that seemed to be all the vampire could focus on. It snapped in frustration, fangs tearing through its own lips, snatching Yixing by the shoulder and slamming him into the side of the elevator. The medic crumpled, dazed.

_Please no one call the elevator up._

Tao jumped on it’s back, wrapping an arm around its head and yanking backwards – the stitches in his arm and shoulder tore apart with shrapnels of pain. Warm, wet blood began to stain through the bandages. Well, at least it wasn’t looking at Xing anymore. Desperately, Tao kept his stake between them as the vampire pounced. Yixing screamed in fright, not for himself, for the tall young cop who looked like he was going to be shredded to human salad in the next two seconds. Tao angled the stake up, point pressed against the vampire’s chest. The scene froze.

\---

But he had to keep moving. Just turn right at the second corner and – there we go. The entrance to Luhan’s nest was untouched, the older vampire still sprinting his way through the dark streets. Chanyeol tenderly laid Baekhyun down, kneeling over him. Their two pursuers were less than a block away. He didn’t have time to get Baekhyun underground.

“… Yeol. Don’t leave me.”

“Baekhyun, don’t worry about me.” He brushed Baekhyun’s hair off his forehead, wet and sticky with blood. “I’ll protect you, ok?”

“No, no Chanyeol stay here -” They heard the cops’ footsteps and Baekhyun redoubled his pleading, fingers weak from silver and loss of blood snagging into Chanyeol’s wrist. Chanyeol just smiled down at him, gently working his hand away.

“I’ll come back to you Baek, I promise.” Then, before Baekhyun could speak, Chanyeol brushed his lips against his forehead and ran, towards the sound of approaching feet.

_You want me to fight? You want me to snap and snarl and claw at you until one of us are dead? Fine. I’ll be –_

\---

“- a monster.” The sentence was barely audible, falling from barely moving lips. It was as if it had crossed past some invisible line from ‘pure-vampire’ to ‘human’, and _It_ became _Mark_ once again. He was human. Even with the fangs and blood and claws, that expression was twisted with human emotions. Disgust, fear, sadness… The tip of Tao’s stake burned a circle into Mark’s cold skin. Stunned, Tao only stared as Mark pressed himself harder on the weapon. On reflex, Tao twitched his hand back. Cold fingers seized his wrist, keeping the weapon in place.

“Kill me. Kill me Tao.”

“M – Mark -”

“Kill me kill me please I can’t -” Mark screwed his eyes shut. “I want to _bite_ you, I want to drain you and I can’t. It hurts.”

“No -”

“You can’t fix me. I’m dead. I’m _one of them_ please Tao. Please…”

“Mark -”

“KILL ME.” The squad captain screamed, “KILL ME, _I’M ALREADY DEAD KILL ME KILL ME PLEASE -_ ” It’s shrieking cut off with a gurgling choke.

Purpling blotches blooming on his skin, Yixing released the handle of the knife, the blade angled deep into Mark’s back with a deadly precision. A medic’s precision. As the naked body crumpled between them, Tao watched Yixing’s hands tremble. Tao jammed a finger into the elevator buttons, bring them up. Ground floor. Tao gingerly turned Yixing to face him, taking the knife away.

“Xing, I need to get this elevator shut down so no one gets down into the morgue ok?”  
Yixing nodded.

“Can you stay here? Five minutes?”

Another nod. The doors dinged open and –

\---

Chanyeol crashed into the two cops, growling and baring his fangs. He had to keep them away. Keep them away from Baekhyun until Luhan came. But how? How the hell – he had an idea. Two of them, one of him. If he ran, one would get to Baekhyun. If he didn’t move them away, Luhan’s nest would be put in danger. He couldn’t face two of them at once, too injured. Fuck this. The next time a gun was pointed at his head, Chanyeol caught it by the barrel. He didn’t hear it go off, but he felt it vibrate violently under his palm. With a final burst of energy, the vampire pressed his claws under the cop’s chin, spinning the human around.

“Take one more step and I’ll rip your friend’s head off.” Chanyeol snarled, putting all his weight on the cop in his hold as his leg finally gave out. “Drop your guns.” He hoped he could last a little longer, but the bullet in his lungs wasn’t helping. Hold on. Grit your teeth and hold on Park Chanyeol. He didn’t have the strength to carry out his threat, but the point was that the cops didn’t know it. The clatter of guns falling to the ground registered only dimly in the back of his mind. Biting so hard his fangs impaled his bottom lip, Chanyeol limped backwards and dragged his hostage with him. Down the street. Away from his mate. Luhan hurry, please hurry.

\---

Tao sped back to the elevator, having already called head quarters. He found Yixing in exactly the same spot as he left him. Yixing let Tao steer him out, leaving Mark’s body on the floor. They stood outside in the night, silently staring at their shoes. At a loud gasping noise, like a drowning man brought to land, Tao freaked – had one of the squad managed to get out of the morgue? – but no, it was only Yixing. The medic was laughing, the kind of laughter that was painful to watch. He took every breath like it seared down his lungs and somewhere down the line it turned to sobs. Between uneven breaths, Yixing hiccuped a few intelligible words.

“My first kill.” Yixing leaned against Tao, finding a bitter comfort in the younger’s arms not knowing how hollow Tao felt at this moment. Tao could never sleep easy on normal days, head too filled with the living dead and the violence that followed. But tonight – tonight he might as well kiss sleep goodbye. Hell, it’ll be gone for the whole week at the least, and in it’s place would be the colour of Mark’s eyes. Red, crazed, grieving and unmistakably human.

\---

Luhan fell to his knees besides Baekhyun, already wrought with worry at how weak he seemed. Baekhyun could barely string together a coherent sentence. Get the bullets out here or run? Luhan didn’t hesitate before he dug his first two fingers into the mess of bleeding just under Baekhyun’s ribs. The injured vampire uttered a short scream.  
“Sorry Baek.” The bullet clinked to the road, stained red and winking in the moonlight as if saying:

_Hey there! I just fucked up your buddy real good!_

He tried to dig out the other one but Luhan had barely started to reach down when Baekhyun seized up and choked. Ok. Too painful. Won’t do that. Picking Baekhyun up in an exact replica to how Chanyeol carried him before, Luhan took two steps in Chanyeol’s direction, heard the bang of a gun, and stopped.

“Lu… Han.”

“Shut the fuck up Baekhyun you’ll hurt yourself.”

“Chan -” Luhan felt Baekhyun’s body shudder with gasps as air rattled down his throat. “Chanyeol.”

Now Luhan was torn between choices. Run with Baekhyun or try to get to Chanyeol? Honestly, it was never a real question. All of them or nothing. He sat Baekhyun on the ground once more.

“Baek don’t you dare move.”

“Chanyeol.”

“I’ll be back.”

\---

The whole world went sideways, growing hazy and distorted. Rough pavement pressed against Chanyeol’s face. He couldn’t move, couldn’t even scream when they tossed the net over him. Caught. But that was ok, he could smell Luhan. Luhan would get Baekhyun out of here. He should have known they had more than one gun each. The fight bled out of him, literally. He’d bled out the equivalent of his last meal. That was going to be a problem. A much bigger problem would be the cop with the stake standing over him.

“Wait, Jongdae. Don’t kill it.”  
“Why not?”

“We could bring it back to HQ, maybe it could tell us something.”

Faintly, Chanyeol realised Luhan’s scent was getting stronger, closer. No. Luhan get away from here. Take Baekhyun away. His fingers felt numb, maybe it was from all that silver, but he forced up his head, staring hazily through the netting.

“We need to knock it out.”  
“How?”

Then Chanyeol shivered at the cold press of the gun on his temple and everything went dark.

\---

If Luhan’s heart was still beating it would have stopped right then and there. Silver chains and copious amounts of blood were easily dealt with, but the way Chanyeol slumped reminded Luhan awfully of the fateful night Baekhyun had turned his mate. Reminded him of how Baekhyun had drained Chanyeol of his blood, when the liquid still ran hot through Chanyeol’s veins, and the twenty four hours after where Baekhyun did nothing but sit with Chanyeol’s head cradled in his lap, waiting for Chanyeol to reawaken. Chanyeol was dead for real, at least for that day, and now he looked the same. Luhan sprung forwards, hoody and facemask mercifully staying on in his mad dash, but arrived too late. Chanyeol had been tossed into the back of a patrol car and the cops were safely behind the doors.

\---

“Jongin, make sure that – holy shit!” Jongdae swerved, braking abruptly and nearly throwing a still-unbuckled Jongin through the windscreen. Their view of the road was obscured, a crouching figure on their hood. Red eyes glowed at them, the only feature they could distinguish. A clawed hand slammed against the glass, only to retract quickly, skin burned from the contact with the silver-coated glass. The whole car was safe, everything lined with the metal. Mouth set in determined lines, Jongdae reversed, then spun the car and the leech slid clean off.

“Jongdae, which squad is officially on patrol here?” Jongin had his phone out, gun already reloaded and sitting in his other hand.

“Squad eight.” Jongdae floored it, screeching down dark streets, and Jongin hurriedly called in for backup. Their car rocked, a massive BANG making them snap to the rearview mirrors. “Shit that was one of the tires fuck.”

“Keep going!” Jongin’s voice rocketed through several levels of volumes. He didn’t mean for it to be screeched, but that vampire looked awfully close to them, keeping up easily with the car.

“I know!”

 

Unnoticed by the two frantic cops, Chanyeol stirred in the backseat, unable to do more than make eye contact with Luhan. Running fast was easy, but trying to puncture tires rimmed with silver was not and to Chanyeol’s horror, Luhan’s hands were no longer a uniform pale canvas but covered with peeling, burnt skin. Chanyeol forced his head to move, shake in a silent protest.

_No. Go away._

Luhan just redoubled his efforts, giving up on the wheels and clawing deep grooves into the tail of the car. Even with the face mask, Chanyeol knew how painful that was. He shook his head again.

 _Run._ Chanyeol couldn’t even lift his arms to tell Luhan to back the fuck off. More cops were coming. He had half a mind to use the blood smeared on his face to write on the windows when another patrol car squealed into the fray. And of course, with the car, came the cops.

 

The first thing Luhan focused on was the sun bomb. Then he was turning and getting the fuck out of there. It went off before he could run far enough, the light searing on whatever exposed flesh he had and blinding him. Fear lodged in Luhan’s throat as he heard guns click. Unable to see, up against seven cops total and with no clue where Chanyeol was, Luhan fled.

 

* * *

 

 

One thing Sehun absolutely hated about shitty apartments. was that the walls were as thin as Japanese paper. Also, his neighbors were fucking _loud_. He was too worked up to go to sleep, not after the way Luhan left, and after an hour of sweet solitude the assholes next door kicked up. He had pulled out his lecture notes, getting a good chunk of that essay he had to do out of the way, until drunken laughter and raucous yells broke his concentration like a rock thrown at glass. Sehun lay seething on his threadbare carpet with half a mind to go breaking in to the apartment next door with his kitchen knife when three sharp knocks startled him.

Lanky legs landing bare-footed on the floor, Sehun padded through the neat cluster-fuck of a combined entrance/living room/kitchen. The door opened straight into the cramped space. It couldn’t be Luhan, he’d just walk straight in. Those drunks must have been careening down the hall and knocked on his door by mistake. Irritation turning his features into that infamous bitch-face his friends always looked out for, Sehun grasped the knob and shoved open the door.

Sehun had a habit, one he took from his feeder days. When he used to wait in dark rooms for some vampire to snap him up. It was sort of an unspoken rule for the human to open the door. Sehun would first look at their hands, gaze trailing up over their shoulders and following the lines of their neck to their face. He would focus on their forehead, never on their eyes. Sure, he wanted to sell his blood for money and the risk of mirage was high, but he did what he could to lower that risk. It was a good thing Sehun had so much experience dealing with vampires.

“Let me in.” A voice purred – Sehun could almost feel the mirage directed at him and nope, he was _not_ dealing with this tonight. He started to swing the door shut, calmly lowering his eyes to the floor. Then he frowned. There were two pairs of shoes in his doorway and one foot had jammed itself in the gap between the closing door and the frame. Leeches couldn’t do that. He hadn’t invited it in yet. A hand gripped the door.

“C’mon kid, let us in.” Terror spiked down Sehun’s spine. He braced his skinny arms on the wood and shoved. How the fuck was he going to deal with a human? Slurred yelling reached his ears, filtered through the wall. If he screamed, would anyone take notice? He doubted it. The door creaked open another inch. Sehun panicked. He backpedalled, releasing his hold, and the stranger fell in with a surprised grunt. Sehun couldn’t see his face. He didn’t really care as he swung forward and kicked into said face. Not giving anyone any room to breathe, Sehun shoved the man out the door where the vampire was still standing, amused. Chest heaving with frantic breaths, Sehun slammed the door shut, fingers fumbling the lock.

“Don’t fucking come back!” He screeched. Nothing answered. Sehun shakily poured himself a cup of water, took the kitchen knife and settled at his dining table, facing the stupid door where any other person would have already been calling the police. Sehun had dealt with creeps before, maybe more _vampire_ creeps than human ones, and he knew the cops – not the sucker cops – wouldn’t do shit. After several minutes of silence, Sehun dragged his notebooks over and resumed his seat, intending to study until dawn. He didn’t have early classes anyways.

 

* * *

 

 

Baekhyun was utterly hysterical when Luhan dragged him into Joonmyun, Yi Fan and Minseok’s nest. The only thing keeping him from sprinting after his mate and to his death was the bullet still lodged painfully in his chest. It kept him from yelling too loudly.

“Luhan, what happened?” Joonmyun had opened the door, eyes wide. “Where’s Chanyeol?”

Baekhyun suddenly fell silent, going limp in Luhan’s arms. No one had to say anything. The silence was only broken by Baekhyun’s sharp, pained gasping. It hurt more than it would have if he’d cried. Wordlessly, Joonmyun took Baekhyun to the bathroom, sat him in the shower and started to work on his wounds. Baekhyun just stared listlessly at the tiles, not even twitching when hot water poured into the gash in his head. Most of his burns were starting to heal.

“Baekhyun, let’s get you out of these ok?” Joonmyun popped the buttons on his shirt, the thing was unsalvageable, stained dirty red. He turned to call back into the living room where Luhan was recounting the ordeal. “Can you get some clothes Minseok?”

There was a rustle, then Minseok slipped into the bathroom with a shirt and sweatpants. Not paying mind to how soaked he’d get, Joonmyun inspected the first bullet wound; it had already healed, the process unhindered because Luhan had already removed the silver. They were lucky it didn’t shatter to pieces inside Baekhyun. The second wound was raw and bleeding. Without giving any form of warning, Joonmyun easily reached out with a clawed finger and hooked the bullet out. Baekhyun’s cry of pain needled at Joonmyun’s heart. Outside, the conversation continued.

“I’ll get Kyungsoo over here right now.” That was all Yi Fan said before he practically teleported out the door, face mask pulled securely over his mouth. _Be careful._ Joonmyun wanted to scream. It seemed to take forever for Yi Fan’s scent, now mingled with Kyungsoo’s, to enter their company again. Kyungsoo’s face was grave, Yi Fan must have told him on the way. By then, Baekhyun was just stepping out of the bathroom, made to sit on the sofa. His voice was hoarse when he spoke.

“Minseok, those guys were from your squad.”

“Then I’ll go get Chanyeol right now.”

“WOAH!” Luhan snagged Minseok back, “Not so fast Baozi, they’d stake you without blinking an eye.”

“If we wait any longer, Chanyeol’s going to die.”

“No.” They fell silent at Baekhyun’s word. “They thought he’s a rogue.”

“What do we do?” Kyungsoo paced up and down, “Even if Minseok knew where he was, six vampires are going to be hell to sneak into _AVPF’s head quarters._ ”

 

* * *

 

 

Jongin and Jongdae were unsettled. The vampire had regained consciousness more than a minute ago. It had remained silent. Compared to their past captures, this one was too docile, compliant. Even with a stake over their heart, most leeches clawed and shrieked. Most ended up dead. Jongdae liked to wait for them to snap, it gave him a reason to kill them. But no, this one just sat quietly in the back of their car, not even reacting to the silver wrapped around his hands and feet. He could see Jongin casting anxious glances behind him, waiting for an outburst that never came. When they reached HQ, it limped obediently along with them to the holding cells. They stared for a second, at the vampire sat on the floor behind bars, unable to leave the square space lined heavily with silver. Then Jongdae tapped his friend on the shoulder.

“Let’s go, Yixing called us to the medical bay.”

“I thought Xing was still in Mapo hospital.”

“Not any more, something happened with him and Tao but he didn’t want to tell me for some reason.” The two of them had, in their usual manner, opted for the stairs. When they reached the medical bay, the first person they met was Yixing, pale as a sheet.

“Xing, are you ok?”

“No.” Was the short reply before Yixing grabbed them both by the wrists and dragged them past rows of beds. They met Tao standing by the end of the row, then Jongdae pulled away, confused.

“I thought you said these guys were brought to Mapo?”

“They were.” Yixing strode forward and briskly threw off the sheets concealing the five bodies, revealing ugly ragged holes in their chests. Jongin gasped. “They weren’t dead.”

“We managed to cordon off the morgue until another squad came in to help us but -”

“But I killed Mark.”

“Yixing you couldn’t -”

“It wasn’t Mark anymore.” Jongdae stepped in front of Yixing. The medic looked like he was about to go through another meltdown. “You killed a vampire Xing.”

“No – no Jongdae, they are _people -_ ”

“What happened with you guys?” Tao cut across them, directing his question at Jongin. Yixing pursed his lips and drew the sheets back into position again.

“We caught one, from Yangcheon. He’s down in the cells.”

“Do you think it’ll talk?”  
“Maybe.” Jongin turned away from the ominous white mounds of cloth. “Let’s go.” 

The vampire was still silent, the only difference was its wounds. Most of them had healed over. The four of them stood outside the bars.

“It hasn’t moved.”

“ _He_ hasn’t moved.” At Yixing’s clipped reply, Jongdae rolled his eyes. Tao went to crouch down, tilting his head curiously at their captive. It was shadowed, even under the harsh glare of fluorescent bulbs, and Tao noticed with a jerk of surprise that it had kept its eyes closed, as if it knew how nervous its direct glare made them.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

The vampire didn’t speak.

“Do you have a coven?”

No reply. Jongdae took out his knife.

“Do I not have a right to silence?” Its voice startled them, deep and even. “Don’t I also have a right to a phone call? In the presence of four cops I believe it is valid.”

“You’re not a human. Rights aren’t applicable.” Jongdae scowled even when he knew it couldn’t see him. The his jaw dropped when Yixing sat down and opened his phone.

“What number?”

“Xing what are you -” Jongdae was cut off by a stream of numbers going straight into Yixing’s phone. It rung only once.

 

In this generation, Joonmyun called himself Suho so…

“Hey Joon.” Chanyeol didn’t see Yixing stiffen.

 _Chanyeol?_ The voice that came out of the speaker was rushed and worried. _Where are you? We’ll come get you just –_

“I got caught man and I have company.” He barked one short, humourless laugh. “Is Xiumin there?”

_I’m here. Everyone’s here._

“Baekhyun? Baek?” The cops froze at his tender tone, at the smile that tugged on his lips.

_Chanyeol you just wait right there I’m coming to fucking get you -_

“All of you need to get out of here. Jinki will pull it off easily, it's too risky for you to stay.”

_I can’t do that Yeol._

“Baekhyun -”

 _Are the cops there? Are the fucking cops there?_ Jongin shifted uncomfortably.

“Yeah.”

 _YOU FUCKING **MONSTERS**. _ The scream tore at their ears, sounding despaired, pained, insane and so, so human. _I’LL KILL YOU. I_ HOPE _YOU ALL DIE._

“Baekhyun…”

_Don’t you dare Park Chanyeol. You can’t -_

“I love you Baekhyun.” A storm of sobbing began from the phone. “You need to live.”

 _Chanyeol. CHANYEOL. CHAN -_ With a shaking hand, Tao hung up and handed the phone back to Yixing. The medic had paled, staring rigidly at the vampire sitting on the floor. So were Tao and Jongin. When Jongdae turned around, he blanked for a second. He didn’t know vampires could cry. But this one could. This one _did._ Not the crystal clear tears the living cried. Instead, deep, red droplets rolled down his cheeks and dripped of his chin. His next words came out as a whisper.

“Thank you.”

\---

“- YEOL. CHANYEOL. CHANYEOL - LET _GO_ OF ME, GIVE THAT BACK TO ME.” Baekhyun was crying, bloody tears staining the collar of his shirt, fresh red mixing with drying brown. “CHANYEOL -”

“Minseok, can you -”

“Hold him still.”

“Let go of me. YI FAN LET GO OF ME -” Still shrieking, Baekhyun twisted and writhed in Yi Fan’s grip, snapping with his fangs. He almost got free, but then Kyungsoo and Luhan were pinning him to the floor, Minseok straddling his hips.

“Baekhyun stop.” Minseok held Baekhyun’s gaze, felt the mirage simmer in his eyes. It was difficult, for vampires to place mirages on their own kind, but Minseok was older than Baekhyun by three centuries and the younger was weak from his injuries. Baekhyun’s body went still under him, still heaving with sobs.

“No no _no_ , Minseok don’t. Let me go.” His voice broke, fresh blood streaking from the corners of his eyes.

“Go to sleep Baekhyun.” Minseok murmured. “Go to sleep.”

 

“We can’t let Baekhyun go back home, he’ll have to stay here.” Joonmyun laid his unconscious friend on the couch. “Minseok, was that -”

“My squad?” Minseok was still on the floor, face hidden in his hands. “Yeah.”

“What are we going to do?” Kyungsoo carefully wiped Baekhyun’s face clean.

“Well, we sure as fuck aren’t calling Jinki to help us high tail it. We’re getting Yeol right the fuck back.” Luhan scowled.

“But how?”

“And the actual rogues are still running around.” Yi Fan carded his fingers through already disheveled hair. “How are we going to get -”

“We can get them.” Minseok suddenly sprung up, phone in hand. He looked grim. "I know where the turned humans went."

“You can’t be going back there now!”

“Joon, they think I’m human.” Minseok grasped Joonmyun’s shoulders reassuringly, “I’ll just keep my head low, say I came back because I heard my squad got involved with everything.”

“But -”

“And while I’m there, I’ll see if I can get to Chanyeol. But if we are to get him out, we’ll need more than one person inside HQ.” The oldest vampire turned, “Luhan, you need to tell Sehun. We might need him.”

“What for?” Luhan was immediately protective, “He’s just a human.”

“Exactly, he can do things we can’t.”

 

* * *

 

 

When the knocks came again, Sehun was so fucking ready. The human unlocked the door, slowly turning the knob before flinging it open and thrusting with his knife –

“Woah there.”

“Luhan!?” Sehun dropped the knife and dragged the vampire in. “What the hell – what happened when you left?”

“A whole lot of shit.” They sat at the table, Sehun shoving his lecture notes to the side. His eyes went wide at Luhan’s story.

“What are we -”

“Going to do? I don’t know yet but Minseok’s heading back to the sucker cops to see what’s happening.” Luhan pushed his chair back, groaning. “Also, I smell another vamp around here.”

“You do?” Sehun raised his eyebrows. “Well, nothing bothered me. What happened to your hands?”

“Silver. Don’t avoid the question.”

“I didn’t, you’re the one not answering me. And really, nothing happened.”

Luhan stood with a scowl, nearly stomping his way to the door.

“This new scent irritates me.”

“Wow territorial much.” 

“I am not territorial.”

“Wow possessive much.”

“I am _not_ possessive.”

“So if I went and let another vampire feed from me like you do, will you be cool with that?” Now, why had he gone and asked that? Sehun turned down to his lecture notes, hoping his blush went by unnoticed. He’s going to end up chasing Luhan away like this, the vampire had made it very clear when they first met. Friends only. No strings attached. But still… sometimes Luhan made him wonder who was having difficulty upholding the promise. Like now.

“I’d be cool with that.” Luhan was subdued, staring oddly at Sehun, like he wasn’t quite concentrating on him, more occupied with his own thoughts. “Remember? I said -”

“Yeah yeah, no feelings and all that bullshit.” Sehun rolled his eyes, “Now what about this scenty shit do you find so irritating.”

“It’s nothing.”

The answer irked Sehun to no end but he left the matter untouched. He could ask Kyungsoo or someone else afterwards. Luhan broke the tense silence.

“Why did you try to stab me with a knife?”

“Drunk assholes from next door. Why _did_ you think I have the knife?”

“You -” Luhan stared incredulously, then looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. “You _humans_.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Captain Kim, what are you doing here?”

“Where’s my squad?” Minseok had the patience of a saint but this was really pushing it. He smiled politely at the cell guard on duty tonight. “I heard they had captured a vampire and were interrogating it.”

“Ah, they dispersed some time ago.”

“I see.” Minseok tried to walk forward but a hand stopped him.

“Captain, I can’t let you do that. Orders from the director.”

“What? Why?”

“There is no ‘why’ when the director gives an order. Not even Zitao was allowed to enter once he left.”

“Minseok!” Footsteps stuttered to a stop behind him. Yixing panted, bent over his knees as he tried to catch his breath. “Come with me.” Minseok had two seconds to say goodbye to the guard before the medic had him in tow.

“Minseok, you need to be careful.” Yixing shut the door behind him, enclosing them in one of the empty rooms meant for full time cops.

“What is happening?”

“If you go down there to get Chanyeol you’ll be killed.”

“Wha -”

“Why are you even back here? Do you know how suspicious it is? You don’t have patrol until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Yixing, who caught Yeol?” The medic hesitated.

“Jongin and… Jongdae.”

“I need to get him out of there.”

“You can’t, not by yourself. He’s getting moved down to the lowest floor. There are guards everywhere.”

A pause.

“I can try to access the keys.” There was a glint in Yixing’s eyes, and Minseok was struck by how angry the usually peaceful medic was. “But it will take me a while.”

“Then won’t you be executed for treason?”

“Well, as a human I can confidently say I can hide much more efficiently than you can.”

 

* * *

 

 

Dawn still rose cruelly, and with it Baekhyun stirred, his sore body made even clumsier by the rise of the sun. He couldn’t see it, but he felt it in his bones. He hated it. He hated a lot of things right now.

“Baekhyun…” Eyes cracking open to fall on a worried Joonmyun, Baekhyun groaned, trying to hold on to that anger inside of him. If he let it go, he was afraid he’d start crying again and that wouldn’t help. His throat was dry.

“What happened whilst I was out?” Baekhyun sat up, ignoring Joonmyun’s fussing. Yi Fan was in his room. Minseok wasn’t in. The door was unlocked.

“Well, Minseok went back to head – Baek!” Distracted, Joonmyun couldn’t catch Baekhyun as he bolted.

“Yi Fan!” Joonmyun yelled.

“Fucking hell.” The tall vampire was already out of his room. “Where the fuck does he think he’s going?”

“To do something stupid.” Also emerging from Yi Fan’s room, Kyungsoo was pulling on his face mask.

“We need to go after him.”

“You stay here.” Yi Fan pointed at Joonmyun, “Luhan and Minseok might come back.”

“But -”

“And two of us would be easier.” Kyungsoo cut him off. Joonmyun watched helplessly as his two friends flitted out the door, thinking what an odd pair the two looked. Despite their height differences, both were intimidating and had tempers as thin as a fingernail, more likely to snarl at someone than talk it out. He just hoped they could keep Baekhyun out of trouble.

\---

Where the hell were AVPF Seoul Headquarters again? Baekhyun streaked past street signs, following Minseok’s clear, well-travelled scent trail. What was he going to do? He didn’t know. He wouldn’t be able to get into the building without first breaking the silver lining, not to mention getting an invite. Baekhyun was going anyways. Going, going, going… he heard them running up behind him.

“Baekhyun!”

He tried to go faster, giving zero fucks about any humans walking around, but the events of yesterday clawed up his legs and he was quickly overtaken. Ducking down some side street halfway down some road, Baekhyun spun around and hissed.

“Leave me alone.”

“No, Baek – stop.” Yi Fan blocked his way. “What are you going to do when you get there huh?”

“When I get where?” Baekhyun tried to dodge his way around him, Yi Fan followed easily.

“You’re way too obvious Baek.”

“Shut up Soo.”

“If you go there you’ll die.”

“Shut up Yi Fan.”

“Just leave me alone.” Shoving past Yi Fan, he stormed off in the opposite direction.

“Baekhyun, I know how it feels -”

“Yeah and you handled _that_ well.”

Kyungsoo winced as both Yi Fan and Baekhyun froze. They really tried not to bring up Yi Fan’s past… mate. Baekhyun knew he hit way under the belt for that one. He huffed once and started to run again, in the opposite direction.

“Just leave me alone for a while.”

“Baek -” Kyungsoo reached out to grab him, only to be stopped by Yi Fan. The shorter vampire glared up at him, then his face softened. Yi Fan had a faraway look in his eyes, sad and contemplating.

“I think we need to give him some space Soo. You just head back to Joon.”

“And where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“Jangmi.”

\---

Baekhyun was angry, but that didn’t mean he’d taken _complete_ leave of his senses. The cops must be looking for him already, the two from yesterday would have seen his face, and he didn’t have a mask on him. So he kept his head down and walked, hands thrust in his pockets, keeping to alleyways and back streets, kicking over trashcans and leaving dents in metal poles. He just felt so _useless_. Chanyeol could be inches from death. Chanyeol could be in pain. Chanyeol could be screaming for him. Chanyeol, Chanyeol, Chanyeol…

“Oi, you fucker.” A hand flashed in front of Baekhyun’s chest. Baekhyun had shoved past a trio of punks in his fit of anger-management-walking and one of them had the audacity to stop him, and Baekhyun stopped, suddenly aware of how parched his throat was. He lost a lot of blood last night, and there were three delectably warm sources of sweet blood surrounding him.

“Hey, I was talking to you, are you mute?”

Baekhyun let himself be roughly pulled forward. The human hesitated – this shortie who almost bumped him into the ground was awfully cold – then shook his head. It was broad daylight, safe. His buddies laughed, nudging each other. Their leader stepped forward, right into Baekhyun’s space and leaned down to bring himself nose-to-nose with the shorter. Baekhyun closed his eyes. He didn’t have the same god-like restraint as Joonmyun to keep his pupils blowing out red.

“Awwww, can’t even look at us.” The human jeered. “Are you scared kid?”

Baekhyun felt his fangs drop, tongue curling around the tips, and thought: _Fuck it_.

“Are you deaf too?” He reached out to shove Baekhyun, “A retard? Don’t -” He cut off with a scream as Baekhyun caught his wrist in a death grip, felt the small bones in his wrist grind together. Baekhyun snapped his eyes open. 

“It’s a vam -” Baekhyun kicked the first human so hard he could hear his ribs splinter. The other two backed away, shocked, and Baekhyun would have let them run. He only wanted one. Until he heard the click of a switchblade and the usually dull, ever-present tang of silver intensified. Baekhyun dodged the silver blade that came whistling towards him with ease, and every bottled-up piece of frustration and hurt and anger came bursting out of Baekhyun in an explosion of violence that left the three humans limp, bloodied and very, very dead on the ground. He forgot to feed. Oops. 

There was blood on his hands. Literally. Baekhyun shoved them back into his pockets, giving himself a mental reminder to bleach and watch his clothes before returning them to Minseok. Minseok, who was probably trying to get to Chanyeol back at his head quarters. Chanyeol, who was probably chained and locked and tortured – stop thinking Baekhyun. The vampire looked up, abruptly aware he was at a familiar place. His nest. The new one he and Chanyeol hadn’t quite moved into yet. There was someone there, waiting for him. Well, not someone. More like something.

“Who the fuck are you?” Baekhyun scowled heavily at the vampire standing on top of the manhole that led underground. She turned to smirk at him, revealing what she held in her hands. Smaller than an A4 piece of paper, the painting he and Chanyeol had.

“Hello.”

“What do you want?” Baekhyun edged forwards, ready to fight her if he had to. With the superior smirk still curling her lips, the female beckoned.

“Come with me.” Then she flashed away. Baekhyun swore, but he had to follow. That painting may be the only thing he would ever have left of Chanyeol.

 

* * *

 

 

Yellow wreathed the tombstones. It was several hours after the funeral, held at dawn as per AVPF custom, and almost everyone who had driven to Mapo’s Jangmi cemetery had departed. The five new nameplates were polished and perfect, yet to stand trial against rain and wind. Tao was the last one there.

As the son of the director, he had the responsibility of placing down the flowers, chrysanthemums mostly, and reciting the same speech they used for all cops who passed under service. Throughout the whole thing, Tao couldn’t help but remember the way Mark’s eyes dulled, how he screamed in the end for death even though he was already dead.

The scene hit him at the most inopportune moments, and his father had shot him a glare when he almost dropped the incense. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Tao gave one last lingering look at the white stones – _white as the sheets that covered their bodies_ – and began to weave his way through the maze of memorials and graves. As usual, he paused by the row reserved for his family, each nameplate beginning with ‘Huang.’ As usual, he stopped extra long by his sister’s grave and bowed, and as usual his eyes flicked up to look at the unnamed grave three spaces down.

It had no wilting flowers around it, it’s incense holder had no ash either. His father had slapped him when he had tried paying his respects to this nameless ancestor and never told him why. Like every other visit, Tao turns away and continues his way out. He was always the only person there, with the myth keeping most people away. But today, someone was walking in past the short iron gate.

Tao froze. Kris kept walking. The taller drew level with Tao, about to pass him entirely, when the cop grabbed his shoulder.

“You, what are you doing here?”

“Isn’t this a public space?” Kris stared fixedly ahead of him, refusing to make proper eye contact, cold and tense under Tao’s touch. It was like brushing against a rock.

“I am entitled to question anyone anywhere.” Tao stared at his profile, “Then again, you already know I’m a cop don’t you?”

“Have we met before?”

“You were the vampire from Guro.”

Kris’s lips thinned and Tao watched his eyes flick down to stare back at him. The gaze was intense, even from the side. When it became obvious Kris was going to keep his silence, Tao spoke.

“Why did you fight your own kind?”

“Not all of my kind are rogues.” Mark’s face flashed past Tao’s memories. No, not all of them were killers. “Now excuse me…”

Kris strode off and Tao followed, not like a sheep would follow its shepherd but like a lion watching its prey. Except its prey was more deadly that itself. Tao watched, surprised, as Kris turned into the row of resting Huangs and stopped in front of the nameless grave. Long, light fingers brushed away stray yellow petals from the stone. Blank with curiosity, Tao blurted his question before he could think.

“Did you know the name?”

“ _Her_ name.” The reply was snapped back, offended. Tao waited for him to continue, but it was as if the two words spoken were a momentary lack of restraint. The cop’s hand dropped to his stake –

“Can we not fight here?”

“Honestly, my ancestors would be proud of me, washing their stones in vampire blood.”

“Now, then. Who are the blood thirsty ones?” Kris finally turned to face him head on, expression unreadable. “Stake me then.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Why?”

“Because you saved my fucking life and I want answers.”

“You were a side accident, my main objective was to fight the rogues.”

“Bullshit.” Tao would have stepped closer in a normal argument, but Kris’s strange stillness kept him rooted to the spot. Everything about him screamed _vampire_ , and at the same time he felt nothing like Tao had ever encountered before. “Why did you wait until I was attacked then? The nest was easily accessible -”

Tao leapt back, reflexively distancing himself from a vampire that had suddenly come way too close for comfort. But no matter how quick or strong you were, a human had their limits and Kris’s fingers wrapped around his chin.

“Don’t even think about pulling out one of those light explosions of yours.”

Tao’s hand halts, brushing into his pocket. Kris leaned down, close enough for Tao to feel his cool breath waft across his cheek.

“If I _saved your fucking life_.” Those eyes were really red. “Then shouldn’t you just shut up and leave me alone?” 

A pause.

“At least tell me her name.”

“Ask another question.” Tao was still held so near to Kris he could feel his breath on his cheek. The cop swallowed.

“Where have the surviving rogues gone?”

“Never had the chance to find out yet.” Kris had released his grip, but the two stayed in their places, faces parallel. “I thought you had an incident two nights ago in Sosa.”

“Yeah no shit. Got any decent information?”

“No. But I do have very good advice.” The vampire stepped back, “stay out of my way.”

“Or what?” Tao stepped forward, tilted his head slightly and – he was looking up at Mark again, at a face that contained both human and monster. The cop blinked and it turned back to Kris, but the eyes stayed the same. Red and human. Could that even happen? They stayed for a second longer, statues in the morning light. In the space of another blink, Kris was suddenly all the way at the end of the row. Tao blinked again. The tall vampire was gone.

 

* * *

 

 

“Wait!”

A ghost of laughter and a trail of scent was all Baekhyun could follow as he raced after the female. The same irritation was bubbling up in his gut and – god, he was going to absolutely destroy her when he caught up. His cold muscles started to ache, he was too tired for this, and just before he really got to thinking about his life choices, he caught up. Baekhyun slammed to a stop, arrested by the sight before him. The female had one hand on her hip, standing slightly off to the side. The wall behind her had the same message as before, the same one Yi Fan and Joonmyun saw - _We kill the real monsters_ \- and under it were three bodies. Her high, tinkling voice spoke to him.

“It was so very careless of you to leave corpses behind like that.” She tossed the painting back to him, “I thought I’d help out a little.” Baekhyun inspected the canvas, nothing seemed to be damaged, and both his and Chanyeol’s smiling faces looked out at him just as they did before.

“What do you want from me?”

“No just me, _we_ need your help.”

“You mean you and your rogue friends.” Baekhyun snorted. “Yeah, thanks but no thanks.” He turned on his heel. He was almost a block away from the whole scene when he heard her speak again.

“Well, if you ever change your mind Baekhyun. Find us.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHT NOW THEN IVE REALISED I made a lot of mistakes with the names (mainly with Yixing calling Joonmyun as Joonmyun and not Suho before he knew Suho was Joonmyun rip. Also accidentally using Kris instead of Yi Fan in the first chapter) BUT ITS BEEN FIXED IM SORRY


	6. Hesitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than usual... but it was either going to be shorter or a nuclear mess of 20000 words so... yeah

Sehun was awoken by the cold. His eyes blinked open to a view of his knees, sometime during the night he’d curled up like a prawn on the corner of his bed. He knew that crappy heater he got second-hand was going to give out any day and it looks like the day has come.

Groggily, he pawed for his jumper hanging at the end of the bed, the fabric taking an eternity to warm up, and by the time he’d burritoed himself back into the blankets, he was wide awake. Sehun glared flatly at the ceiling, hating his non-existent body clock. He doesn’t have class today, the least he could do was sleep in. No light filtered through the window.

Coffee sounded good. Blankets trailing behind him like some sort of cotton jellyfish, Sehun smacked his forehead off the counter top when he leaned down for the stupid coffee powder. Great. Fantastic. Best morning ever. Sehun shook out the last packet of coffee. He’ll go down to the shops when there was sun light.

\---

With much the same bleariness, Captain Kim Minseok’s squad number 3 dragged their feet back into headquarters after a long, uneventful patrol. They dispersed at the bottom of the stairs after a few yawns and a ‘goodnight – oh wait fuck good morning’. Tao didn’t see the sun when they stumbled in and he probably won’t see it again until it was high in the sky. He and Jongin head to their room, Jongin immediately falling asleep on top of his blankets. Tao would have crashed out with him, but several new reports came in an hour ago and he had to go look at them.

He found himself bent over a myriad of statistics in their squad office, maps of Guro and Sosa pinned to the desk, At this rate his eye bags might as well be permanent. A yawn stretched his lips, made his eyes water. He might as well go to sleep, but the monotonous pages and blank statistics sat accusingly on the desk. Tao could almost hear his father’s voice. Receding into sullen silence, Tao let his gaze run over his notes. He jolted upright, snatching up a marker and dragging over several maps of Sosa district. The last traces of sleepiness vanished from his eyes. The rogues, he had found them.

\---

Yixing couldn’t go to sleep just yet. The medic padded his way down to the medical bay, gathering what he needed and jogging lightly further underground. There was no one guarding the cells right now, it was the silent time between patrol shifts where everyone had somewhere and absolutely nowhere to be. No cameras either. There haven’t been any reports of mirages working indirectly but it was better not to test it. Yixing tightened his grip on the blood bags and whispered.

“Minseok?”

“Right behind you – woah!” The floor would have been stained red if Minseok didn’t have his inhumane reflexes.

“Please don’t creep around like that.”

“Sorry.”

“Will this help him?” Yixing looked apprehensively at the bags.

“It won’t help in the long run, but this will satiate his thirst. Dead blood isn’t what we need.” Minseok cringed at his own words. “I don’t know what state Chanyeol is in, it’s better if I go alone.”

“Alright, I’ll keep watch.”

“Don’t fall asleep.”

 

Minseok’s nose wrinkled at the overwhelming scent of silver, flitting past iron bars coated with the metal and – more importantly – the silver linings on the floor. A vampire couldn’t get in or out of these cells without a human to lift the line. There was only one cell occupied. His heart lurched at the sight of his friend, lanky frame awkwardly curled up in the centre, as far away from the bars as he could. Chanyeol’s eyes cracked open, already red.

“Is Baekhyun okay?”

“Yes, he’s safe.” Minseok tried to pass the blood bags through the bars, hissing when the silver lining repelled him. “Can you catch?”

“Yeah.”

No sooner had Chanyeol gotten his hands on the bags that he was ripping into them with his teeth, sucking out the dark red liquid hungrily. Minseok should have asked Yixing to bring more, but too many was too risky. Someone would notice. Chanyeol slipped the empty bags back out.

“Chanyeol we’re getting you out of here.”

“You’re all going to get killed.” The tall vampire looked slightly better, but there was a gaunt quality to his cheeks that didn’t go away.

“Remember what Joon said?” Minseok placed a palm on the bars, feeling pain sizzle deep into his skin, etching what he could of his friend’s suffering into himself. “It’s all of us or nothing. We’re not going to leave you here Chanyeol -” Both of them froze. Two voices registered in their senses, tinny and echoey from the metal walls. One of them was Yixing.

“Minseok, go.”

“You aren’t allowed to die ok Yeol? Baekhyun will kill you.”

They shared half-smiles, Minseok’s eyes were determined, Chanyeol’s tired.

“Alright captain.”

 

When Huang Ziwei walked out of the elevator, heels clacking on the floor, Yixing allowed himself a second to be shocked. She was about to brush past him when he spoke.

“President Huang, welcome back to Korea.”

“What are you doing down here so early Dr Zhang?” The President of AVPF curled her lip in disdain. She did not like this soft-hearted medic when she left for America three months ago and she did not like him now. Yixing laughed airily, making some sort of vague motion.

“I was just down here with my captain to look at the vampire, everyone seems to have seen hi – it.”

“Well, you’re awfully excited to see the thing.”

Yixing smiled happily, scratching his hair in that utterly air-headed way which he knew drove her to irritation.

“What are you doing here Miss Huang?” He stealthily wiped the sweat on his palms off on his shirt, speaking just a little louder to make sure Minseok heard him. _Hurry up I can’t stall this person for long._

“That is none of your business. Now excuse me.” Heels clicking, she walked by, and Yixing had half a mind to sweep her heels out from under her when Minseok, _thank god_ , reappeared. Upon seeing her, he bowed.

“President Huang.”

“Captain Kim. Did you get what you were looking for?”

“I was merely curious.”

“If you want to ogle at it, do it quick because the director will be moving it to a closed cell soon.” She smiled, and if humans had fangs… Not noticing their horrified silence, she tilted her head in fake concern. “And, by any chance, is my dear cousin Zitao in head quarters?”

“Yes, but he’s busy.” Unfazed by Minseok’s clipped, protective tone, the woman nodded and walked off. 

Minseok bit his lip and forced himself to follow Yixing, not Ziwei, because there was no way she wasn’t going to leave Chanyeol alone. It must have shown up in his eyes, Yixing’s warm fingers grasped his arm.

“You can’t.”

“I know.” Reluctantly, the vampire let the human drag him up the stairs. They stood silently, looking back down.

“The snake is back.” Yixing muttered in Chinese. “Tao does not need another full course meal on his plate.”

“Xing, you should get some sleep.”

“I have a friend to meet.” Yixing had changed into his normal knitted sweater and jeans, hands hidden in his sleeves. There was an adorably messy quality to his hair.

“At seven in the morning?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll come back in a couple of hours. You should sleep too Captain.”

“I’m meeting up with my own friends later too.” Minseok shrugged as he walked the medic out of head quarters. Yixing gave him a knowing look before turning away, another yawn falling past his lips.

 

Minseok headed back into HQ, he could get some reports done before he had to head over to Joonmyun’s. The last he heard from their resident mother hen, he was applying for an extension to his vacation from work. Knowing Joonmyun, he’d be able to weasel out as many weeks of leave he wanted.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun was up, the air was cool and Baekhyun squinted reproachfully at the glare. He’d been looking for the better part of an hour and still he had not found any sign of them. He had to find them, his violin and Chanyeol’s guitar, even if he’ll never touch them again. He couldn’t lose that.

Baekhyun retraced his mate’s scent through the streets, his heart aching painfully in his chest. Chanyeol must have hidden them around Luhan’s nest. Speaking of the nest… Baekhyun turned onto Luhan’s street. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then the manhole popped open and the vampire himself clambered out, cursing the sunlight and all it stood for.

“Hey Baek.” Luhan didn’t try to approach him, cautiously observing as if afraid Baekhyun would suddenly shatter to pieces all over again. For the first time since he ran off, Baekhyun becamse aware of how wrecked he looked right now. He got no sleep since Minseok’s mirage and lost so much blood without bothering to replenish it. He must look dead. That thought had a crazed giggle burst from his mouth.

“Hey Lu.”

“Well… Yi Fan told us to give you some space.”

“Great.”

“But I just want to tell you, I found the violin. And the guitar.” Luhan rubbed his neck awkwardly and Baekhyun had to crack a tiny smile. This was as close to affection you could get, and the fact that Baekhyun was on the receiving end meant he must really look like shit.

“Can you keep those in your nest?”

“Sure. You can come back anytime you want you know? Or anyone’s places.”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to clear my head a bit.” Then before he could do something stupid – like cry – Baekhyun flitted away.

 

It was the worst possible idea he could have but Baekhyun went to the music school anyways. It was open already (it was well past nine o’clock) and Baekhyun listened to the faint strains of strings, thuds of percussionists and the high, soft voices of the vocal students from across the road. He knew he won’t be able to handle walking in there. Baekhyun mentally slapped himself.

 _Why the fuck are you treating him like he’s already gone huh?_ _We’ll get him back. We will._

Shaking himself out of his depressive reverie, Baekhyun sighed and – the kid was gaping at him. The same kid he and Chanyeol waited for that night everything went to hell. He hadn’t even opened his mouth when the student uttered a terrified shriek and bolted. Baekhyun stared, shocked, as his student beelined for the entrance, colliding with several others behind the glass. They turned to gawk. Several adults dragged them back from the doors. Baekhyun could hear their voices.

“Is anyone still outside?”

“It’s Mr Park. It doesn’t need an invite oh lord.”

“Someone call AVPF.”

AVPF. The sucker cops must have already alerted every single human he’d ever come in contact with about their discovery. Baekhyun the vampire. Hello everyone.

“Does anyone have any silver?”

“Not enough to kill it.”

“Will it come in here?”

“It may.”

“Get the kids into the studios.”

_No, stop. I’m not –_

Baekhyun realised his feet had carried him forward, standing in front of the doors, metres away from the humans. Another scream jolted the vampire. Someone was calling the sucker cops. He needed to get out of here.

\---

Coffee was on discount. Sweet. Sehun put two more boxes into the trolley, already laden with frozen vegies, instant noodles and bars of chocolate he couldn’t resist. Groceries done, he paid up and left, emerging from the store blinking rapidly against daylight. It had warmed somewhat, but his jumper was still zipped up and a beanie tugged over his head. Plastic bags in hand, he turned right to head home. Wait. A fucking. Second. He spun straight around and walked briskly in the opposite direction. That was the creep from last night loitering in the middle of the road and Sehun wasn’t going to deal with any of his bullshit.

The back of Sehun’s neck prickled, hairs standing on end. He threw a look over his shoulder, no one there. The guy probably didn’t even see him. Goosebumps popped up on his arms. He walked faster. Make a huge loop around back to his apartment. Good plan. Sehun looked back again and his heart almost stopped. The dude had just rounded the corner. As Sehun watched, the stranger locked eyes with his. Walking much faster now. Why wasn’t there anyone around? It’s broad daylight for fuck’s sake. Sehun refused to look behind him, felt the creep’s stare burn through him. He started down the next street, couldn’t help the quick glance that had him speeding up to a run. He was way too close. 

Sehun ran, not paying attention to where he was going because holy fuck he needed to lose this creep. He felt like a rabbit, running from some crazed predator through a maze of confusion. A figure shot out from a side street. Sehun screamed before he realized –

“Baekhyun?”

The vampire stared, stunned. “Uh – Sehun.”

“Are you -”

“Don’t you dare ask me if I’m alright.” Baekhyun had no heat in his words, just a dejected aura that had Sehun wilting. “Anyways, are _you_ ok?”

Sehun hesitated, casually looked around. His pursuer had disappeared. Maybe he’d lost him. Anyways, Baekhyun didn’t look like he could handle anything right now.

“I’m fine. Why?”

“You look kinda…” Baekhyun studied him up and down. “Freaked out.”

“Well, we both look like shit.” Sehun sighed, recapped his beanie, hefted the plastic bags and opened his mouth, about to ask Baekhyun out for coffee or something, when the short vampire burst into tears. Sehun dropped the bags.

“Oh my god, Baekhyun woah hey.” He let Baekhyun burrow into his chest, looping his arms gingerly around the shorter’s back. Anyone could walk by and see them, the thin uni kid and a vampire bawling his eyes out with tears of blood. Sehun shrugged off his jumper, somehow managed to get Baekhyun under it to hide his tears, and headed home with his groceries on one arm and Baekhyun on the other.

 

Baekhyun cried himself weak. The vampire hiccupped his way through telling Sehun about his morning, breaking into tiny sobs every couple of sentences. Sehun wasn’t aware of any AVPF notices yet, but it was most likely the cops in charge of spreading this sort of information only hit the areas Baekhyun and Chanyeol were known to be in.

“S-s-sorry.”

“Nah, it’s ok. Just let it all out I guess.” He handed Baekhyun a towel. “Do you want something to drink?”  
Baekhyun scrunched his face.

“That’s a really bad question to ask me right now.”

“Oh…”

“I should have fed last night.” Baekhyun snuggled deeper into Sehun’s jumper. It was several sizes too big and swathed him like a cocoon. “I’ll leave now. Thanks for letting me in.”

As Baekhyun shrugged out of the jumper, Sehun dropped the bomb.

“You can feed from me, if you want.” 

Wow, Sehun had misjudged how thirsty the short vampire was, Baekhyun’s eyes turned crimson in a blink.

“I don’t think I should Sehun.”

“Why not?” Sehun joked lightly, “I’m basically an ex-feeder.”

“You’ve still got Luhan.”

“What does Luhan have to do with this?”

“You don’t -”

“No I don’t. You can bite me Baek I really don’t mind.” Sehun rolled his eyes. Luhan must have some sort of status as most-possessive-vampire-ever. “Luhan won’t care. I’ll protect you.”

“Like I’m the one who’ll need protection.” But Baekhyun had leapt onto Sehun’s lap, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah yeah. Consent yada yada you can bite me, it’s chill.” He tilted his head, baring his neck for the vampire. Sharp needle points dragged over his skin and cold hands cupped his shoulders. Sehun forced himself to relax.

“Ready?”

“Mmhm.”

The familiar ache sank deep into Sehun’s flesh and he waited for the tingling rush of pleasure from Baekhyun’s venom. When it hit, he sighed, melted under the vampire’s touch. Baekhyun made a small noise of satisfaction, tongue dragging over the bite. Baekhyun was a notoriously messy eater, preferring to just rip into someone’s throat. But this was Sehun and he was suddenly hyperaware of how thin the human’s skin was and he cupped Sehun’s chin in a featherlight grip. When he finished, he pushed himself up to smirk playfully at the human.

“Is this usually when you and Luhan start to fuck?”

Too disorientated by the venom, Sehun tried to shove the vampire off his lap and they ended up on the floor, laughing.

\---

His world was narrowed to a slit, a crack through the cupboard door. All Jongdae could hear was his own ragged breathing, his own pounding heart. The cupboard under the kitchen sink of his old home – his childhood home – could never close completely. But even then, it had always been his favourite hiding place. It didn't register with Jongdae that the space was too small for an adult, that his hands were skinny and unscarred, because he was transfixed on the world through the gap. The floor was painted red. He caught flashes of a hand, limp and pale on the floor. A foot. His mother always wore that bracelet. Jongdae pressed closer, to see, to check because he never got the chance to make _sure_ – 

An eye blocked the world from view, brighter than the blood painting the floor. Jongdae's jaw locked. He wanted to scream but he couldn't. Too terrified. He knew what would happen next. Clawed hands would rip the narrow strip of the world open, would reveal how his mother's head was missing and the foot he saw through the crack in the cupboard had been separated from his father's body. The cold hand would dig into his neck, lazily gouging through his skin and Jongdae would scream. Then he would scream. He would scream and scream and –

Jongdae woke up with a gasp, desperately trying to untangle himself from the blankets that ensnared him. He checked the clock. It was just past 10am, he hadn’t gotten more than three hour’s sleep after the patrol with his squad. Finally free from the bedding, Jongdae pressed a hand to his eyes. What a dream to have when he needed the sleep.

 _Not a dream Jongdae. A memory_.

He lay there, still breathing heavily. He needed to get up and move.

He padded out of his room, in a simple shirt and shorts. Where would Minseok be at this time? The archive room of course. Jongdae could see the man meticulously typing out reports, sorting out files and updating maps before he even entered the room. When he did, Minseok was exactly where he expected him to be. Jongdae broke into a smile, the last cloying tendrils of his dream –

_Memory_

– fading away, coiling up somewhere deep in the back of his mind or at the bottom of his heart, ready to spring out again. But it took a back seat to Minseok.

“Mornin’ Captain.”

“Jongdae, you’re supposed to be asleep.” Minseok glanced up from the computer screen.

“Couldn’t sleep.”  He hesitated, “Min, I saw Ziwei walking around in the control room.”

“She’s back.”

“Oh fuck, Tao’s going to _flip_. Dear sweet nemesis cousin number one is back.” The ‘dear sweet’ phrase had attained permanent joke status in their squad. Mainly because Tao complained about her so much.

Sighing, Minseok turned off the computer. “I still haven’t told him.”

“Where is he?” Jongdae followed Minseok out of the room,

“Holed up with his research on Guro and Sosa.” Minseok rubbed his eyes furiously, and when Jongdae leaned up to check, he pulled away with a whine. Halfway through, it turned into a yawn.

“Hey, Min. Do you wanna go get coffee or something?”

 

It was a quick walk to the closest café and the two ordered their drinks. Jongdae used to be the type of person who spat coffee back out as soon as it touched his taste buds, but he’d become accustomed to it and that extra kick of caffeine. Also, Minseok loved the drink, not that that was related. Jongdae chattered incessantly, his brain-to-mouth filter absent in his lack of sleep, whilst Minseok stayed quiet, nodding here and there, maybe a smile once or twice. But it was… different. He knew Minseok was a quiet person, he didn’t make unnecessary talk. Minseok’s very presence spoke for him, always there for you to lean back on. But today was different. It was as if Jongdae leaned back right now, he’d fall flat on his ass with no one to catch him. 

Jongdae couldn’t help but frown. He felt… detached almost, clipped off and isolated in a gentle way. It sat uncomfortably in his chest. Minseok had always been someone he’d admired, someone he could rely on, but there were times like this where he understood it didn’t always run both ways. This time felt a lot colder. Jongdae reached out for their cups of coffee, burning under his fingers, and passed one to Minseok.  He hesitated.  
“Hey, Min. Is something wrong?”

Minseok glanced at him curiously. No, not curiously… maybe surprised?

“Nothing at all.”

\---

Almost four hours squinting at his research, Tao nodded, satisfied with his plan. He’d manage to narrow down possible nest locations to two areas he’ll check out later. But first, he needed sleep. Desperately. Slipping all his papers into their respective files (it was a habit he picked up from an infuriatingly neat Minseok), Tao stretched and stood, feeling something crack in his lower back. A knock cut through the silence. He barely has time to finish his yawn before the door was flung open. 

He was expecting Yixing or Minseok, come to harass him into sleeping. Tao had a retort on his lips, mouth already forming the words, until he registered the figure in the doorway. His lips instantly turned down, stiffly shaping a greeting.

“Hello, Ziwei.”

“Zitao!” His cousin swept him into an embrace, long hair tickling his chin, and he fought the urge to throw her off. Her nails dug painfully into his arms. “Dear cousin, it has been too long.”

“How was America?” Tao manoeuvred his way out of the room, locking the door behind him. He wouldn’t put it past her to steal all his work and kill the rogues first, anything to put her in the director’s favour.

“It was dreadfully boring, their systems were much the same as ours except they had the most abominable criminal acts.”

Tao grunted, a small noise of fake curiosity.

“Has father told you the story of our sweet ancestor?”

Tao shook his head, almost to his room now. Ziwei had tagged behind him the whole way and unseen, she smirked.

“Oh really? Nothing about the blank grave and the white roses?”

Tao froze. He had never seen a petal on that grave. But Kris…

“I thought he’d have told you by now, I apologise for assuming so.”

“Father does not fill my head with nonsense.” Replied Tao, eyeing her coolly. Was he really going to have his family feud in the corridor? He felt a stab of pleasure at the way her smile twisted into a grimace. “Now, if you would excuse me _dear cousin,_ I will be taking my leave.” And he slipped into his room. 

In the other bed, Jongin barely shifted, mouth hanging open. Tao huffed a fond sigh, dragging the blankets over his sleeping friend. Jongin had classes in the afternoon, maybe he could walk him to university before he went after the rogues. Tao glared at the door one last time, he’d have to be careful. Ziwei would pick at every mistake he made to unravel his mission. She’d always wanted to sit behind that grey director’s door, hands folded primly on the imposing desk. If Tao had any incentive for taking over his father’s position, this would be it.

\---

Out of his whole squad, Yixing was the only one who preferred to take the elevator anywhere. That was, until he killed Mark in one. The medic skirts past the metal sliding doors, keeping his eyes on the ground, and heads straight for the stairs. Worn, threadbare carpet muffled his footfalls. Sehun lived up three floors and Yixing counted the door numbers, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He could smell coffee, maybe Sehun was making some. Yixing knocked softly, knuckles hidden up his sleeves.

“Sehun?”

“Who is it?” The voice sounded panicked.

“It’s Yixing.”

“Fuck – hang on a sec.” The door finally opened after a lot of rustling and Sehun blinked down at him, the kid was getting too tall. He was wearing a scarf. “Hey Xing.” 

Yixing was right about the coffee, it sat steaming in its pot. There were two mismatched cups already on the table, one half-filled, and Sehun had gone to his cupboard to get another.

“Xing, is everything ok?”

“Yes, everyone in the squad is ok.” Yixing accepted his mug from Sehun, sipping at the scalding hot liquid. As he drank, he studied his surroundings curiously.

“Yeah, well you’re here so that must mean something else is wrong.” Sehun squirmed, avoiding Yixing’s eyes. He tried not to think about the vampire he was currently hiding in his bedroom.

“Sehun… I need you to answer me truthfully.”

Sehun nodded cautiously, wincing slightly as the movement jostled his bite wound.

“As you know, there are certain… rumours about me in the anti-vampire police force.”  
“Yeeeees?”

“Tell me which.”

“What?”

“Tell me the rumours.” Yixing stared off to the side as Sehun slowly sat down. He thought he’d have to push a little more, but –

“When you were in med school you had a weird fascination with vampires.”

“And?”

“And you were a genius, discovering things about them no one ever bothered to care about.”

Yixing waited for Sehun to work himself up, these weren't the things he had been referring to. Sehun toyed with the rim of his cup.

“When you were accepted into AVPF you healed a captured vampire. After that, none of the squads wanted you.”

“Because?”

“Because they said… you were a vampire sympathiser.” Sehun hurriedly drank his coffee.

“Sehun – remember about being truthful – but what if I said I was?”

Sehun choked on his drink, the heat of the liquid nothing compared to the burn of the bite mark. He stared at Yixing, wide and uncomprehending.

“Sehun, I need your help to do something, something illegal.”

“Oh my god Xing wait.”

“If you do this, it would hardly be your first time breaking the law would it?” And before Sehun could stop him, Yixing had reached out and tugged the scarf down, revealing the neat puncture wounds piercing deep into his skin. Sehun swallowed.

“How long did you…”

“I was only aware of Luhan after I met Joonmyun. As for your past… AVPF has your files.”

“What?” Sehun’s voice cracked in his distress, as if he expected the sucker cops to burst in and sentence him to death.

“You’re not in any danger!” Yixing flapped his hands, “AVPF doesn’t care if you’ve left the rings for good, but you’ve been stepping a fine line. If anyone had reported you back with more of those -” He motioned at the bite, “- you would’ve been executed.”

“Ok I don’t want to think about that.”

“So will you help me?”

“Woah, woah _woah_.” Holding up a finger, Sehun’s head spun. “Alright one thing at a time. One: Since when did you know Joonmyun was Joonmyun and not Suho? Two: Have you met the rest of the coven? Three: What do you want help with?”

“Since a couple of days ago, no, and I need your help for a jailbreak.”

“Wha -”

“I think I’ll need the rest of the coven too but I need _you_ to help me steal the keys for Chanyeol’s cell.” At that moment, Sehun’s bedroom door flew open with a bang and Baekhyun stood there, trembling. The vampire crossed the cramped space in a blur of movement, slamming his hands down next to the medic.

“I don’t really know who the fuck you are. But Minseok says you’re decent and I want my mate back. What’s you’re fucking plan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT  
> Friday schedule is CANCELLED for the next three weeks.  
> I will be posting another chapter sometime during the next three weeks.  
> ... And here the posting irregularities BEGIN


	7. White Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyyyy managed to get a chapter done, enjoy~:)

Late afternoon sunlight was filtering gently through the clouds when the alarm clock screeched between the two sleeping cops. Tao whined, burrowing deeper into his blankets as Jongin jolted upright, hair sticking every which way to hell. Stifling a yawn, Jongin picked up the still-wailing clock and – as per custom – chucked it at his friend, hearing Tao yelp in surprise.

“C’mon Tao. Up.”

“ _You_ get up.”

It took an extra five minutes, some groaning and a shared shower to get them out of headquarters and to the bus stop in time for Jongin’s bus. Even then, it was a tight sprint. Jongin barely had the time to elbow Tao and toss a “Kill some vamps for me” behind him before slipping past the closing doors, bobbing his head in sheepish apology to a frowning driver. Tao grinned, waved, and tried not to think about how much he wanted to be sitting on the seat next to Jongin as it trundled him off to Yonsei University. 

Whenever Tao had to take the wheel of their patrol car, he got nervous chills down his spine trying to get the damn thing into HQ’s underground carpark. The way down was narrower than a straw and the first time he drove, he’d scraped a layer of paint off the car doors. His father was pissed – a gross understatement. Motorbikes were much easier, faster too. Tao wanted to get to Sosa before the sun went down and intended to have a quick getaway on hand (not that he could drive faster than a leech anyways). It was the most likely time vamps would hop in and out of their nests. The sleek, black bike for tonight was one of his favourites, it had carried him out of a lot of shit and it would hopefully continue doing so. Tao winced as he started up his ride. Yixing wasn’t a magician, but thankfully the gashes in his skin hadn’t suffered too much in that kerfuffle in Mapo hospital.

 

It was a minor thing, Tao had never paid much attention to the blinking red light of the breaks until now. He shivered. It was sundown when he’d gone to Mapo hospital, when Mark and his squad had reawakened. Tao closed his eyes briefly, trying to dispel the crimson gaze that floated in his memories. He had a job to do and it was no time to get distracted.

“Cousin, you’re still injured. Are you certain you can handle this?”

Tao kept his eyes forward, pulled the helmet over his head and mounted the bike. Talking to Ziwei of all people will not help him clear his mind. A soft hand landed on his arm.

“I have a job tonight Ziwei, father had assigned it to me personally.” _You will take care of those rogues by yourself._ “Get out of my way.”

“Of course, I merely wanted to send off my favourite cousin.”

Tao scowled, _I’m your only cousin_ , and revved the bike, shooting forward. Missed her by a hair. Ziwei was laughing. Then Tao was blinking in the glare of sunset outside, the streets blurring around him. He breathed deeply, weaving expertly through a tangle of cars, and let the hum of the engine fill his mind. His stake – a new one, the one lost in Guro will never be found again – laid heavily on his thigh, a comforting presence. Another breath and he swerved around a corner, leaving his troubled thoughts behind.

\---

Vampires did not have the same weaknesses as humans; a savage kick between their legs or a crippling elbow to their solar plexus would barely make them flinch. All the same, Jongin had enjoyed Minseok’s ‘normal fighting’ lessons and soaked up instruction like a sponge. A fight in its essence was a dance. Jongin still preferred his ballet, but there were times when fighting against humans came in handy. Like right now. 

The bus dropped you off at a corner of the campus, a deserted corner of the campus because the buildings here were empty after noon and wow, Jongin was screwed. The senior from before was there. And he brought his friend. Great. Jongin backtracked faster than light, but it was too late, he’d been spotted. He was too busy walking backwards to notice the third man behind him. 

Jongin spun around, twisted past the hands that landed on his shoulder and tensing his own hands into fists, jabbing sharply at his attacker’s soft gut.

_Vampires don’t have any weak spots._

A quick glance behind him, the other two were closing in pretty fucking fast. He ran for it. Felt fingers clutch at his shirt.

_But I’ll teach you how to fight anyways._

Jongin slammed his knee into the guy’s face and the guy, already doubled over, shrieked and collapsed.

 _Run_. Minseok’s voice buzzed under the rush of action, patient and calming. _If a fight is any more than one on one, run for it._ Yeah, that movie ten-against-one bullshit really doesn’t work. Luckily for Jongin, cops trained to run more than they did to throw a punch. He’d outrun them easily – something wacked him on the back of his head. Jongin stumbled and clutched his head, watched a metal water bottle roll away innocently. Then his bag straps dug painfully into his shoulder as someone grabbed and pulled.

Jongin’s bag is tossed to the side and he’s dragged off behind one of the buildings. Crap. Crap crap crap – He twisted, jerking his foot up, but his attack is easily evaded. An elbow collided with his jaw, fuzzy pain blooming under his skin.

“Hyun keep him fucking still.”

“I think he’s down for now.”

Jongin was flipped around, arms pinned behind his back. Desperately, he writhed, then his original tormentor pistoned a fist into his gut and he choked.

“Woah, Tai man not so hard.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” The senior – Tai – whatever the hell he was called yanked Jongin up by the hair. The cop winced and coughed. A slap snapped Jongin’s head to the side. The cop flailed, kicking back at a low angle. It connected with hard bone. A shin. Jongin grimaced as Hyun howled, that was _loud_ , and lunged forward. Now free, Jongin slipped his knife free from his waistband. Tai and his asshole buddy froze, eyeing the blade warily. Jongin could see it in their eyes, the uncertainty and disbelief. On one hand, Jongin was a cop. On the other hand, Jongin looked pissed enough to screw the rules and actually used the knife.

\--- 

Kyungsoo had been teetering on the fence for a while. Jongin got Chanyeol caught. Jongin also didn’t know he got the wrong damn guy. And Jongin had also somehow managed to get into another fight. Picking up the cop's discarded bag, Kyungsoo slung it over his shoulder and heaved a sigh,  _Why can't I just leave this alone._ Well, the point was he couldn't.

By the time he reached Jongin, it looked like the cop didn't need any help. The senior from last time - the needlessly tall one - was clutching his arm and yelling obscenities, a long red line glaring angrily against his skin. As Kyungsoo watched, his friend grabbed him by the shoulder and they scurried off. Jongin slipped the knife away under his shirt, turned, saw Kyungsoo and froze.

The vampire tossed Jongin's bag negligently by his feet, "So you  _do_ have some bite."

"What are you doing here?"

"I've got class, dipshit." 

Jongin sidled up to him, wincing as the movement caused soreness to bloom under his ribs. "What class?"

"None of your business. Stay out of my way." Before Jongin could speak again, Kyungsoo ran, too fast for the human to follow.

Kyungsoo did not actually have classes. 

For the millionth time that afternoon, Kyungsoo checked his phone. Joonmyun was supposed to message him sometime soon and he didn’t feel like walking around aimlessly so here Kyungsoo was, on university grounds. The sun had taken an orange hue and Kyungsoo ducked into the science facility, shading his face from the punishing glare. His phone buzzed.

_*Soo. We meet at the bubble tea shop. Sehun will be there and so will Yixing. They say they will explain when everyone is there.*_

Kyungsoo frowned, _What about Baek?_

_*He’s with them.*_

\--- 

Jongin was late to his class. Normally the professor wouldn’t have looked twice, but because this was a sucker cop swinging in, Jongin was of course given the stink eye. He hoped he won’t be marked too harshly on his next assessment. Someone had moved his seat. A couple of titters bubbled through the air as he scraped one up to the desk. No one commented on the angry, red mark that must be blooming across his cheek, or how his clothes settled unevenly on his shoulders. Jongin ignored them, loftily taking out his notes and laptop.

 

* * *

 

 

Yixing was unusually nervous for someone who spent so much time around dead bodies. He wasn’t used the bodies moving around; smooth, graceful movements that were always too fast, too fluid under his trained eyes. Sehun popped out of the bubble tea shop, sending him a questioning look. Yixing could only tell by the light of a street lamp, it was fully dark out now and the vampires were already inside.

“Xing, you good?”

The medic nodded.

“You look really pale man.”

“I’m about to enter a small enclosed space with six people classified as a human’s most dangerous predator.”

“Yup.” Sehun reached out to link arms with him, worn-out cotton on long knitted sleeves, and started to drag him into the shop. “I do it all the time. It’s fun. You’ve done it too.”

“Minseok doesn’t really count.”

The younger rolled his eyes, “C’mon Xing.” And thrust Yixing through the door.

 

There was a horrible moment when it seemed time had stopped, all six vampires were frozen like statues in their places. Then Minseok waved at him and everything resumed. Joonmyun crossed his legs. Luhan tapped his foot. It instantly felt warmer even though there were only two people capable of body heat in the cozy shop. Behind him, Sehun flipped the sign on the door to ‘closed’. No one comes in at night anyways. Yixing stood awkwardly until Sehun prodded him, dragging him down to sit at one of the tables. The medic was painfully aware of the bandaged wounds on his ankle – courtesy of Mark – he really should have changed the blood-spotted cotton, but none of them seemed to notice, and if they did, no one reacted. Minseok raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t count?”

“Oh, I forgot you could hear…” Yixing blinked abashedly.

“Is this really the hardcore genius surgeon you’ve been talking about?” Kyungsoo perched on the counter, leaning back on his hands and sipping at his bubble tea. Beside him, Baekhyun looked like he was about to pass out, deep circles under his determined eyes.

“Yes. Hello. I’m Yixing.” The squad medic drew back into his sleeves like a turtle, fingers disappearing. “I had something I wanted to discuss.” He paused uncertainly, glancing at Minseok. His (vampire) captain tilted his head encouragingly, the rest of them going into that unnerving stillness. Sehun pinched Luhan to get him moving again. Yixing took the plunge. 

“As I have explained to both Sehun and Baekhyun, I want to help you get your coven mate back.”

“Why?” Luhan was sharp, curt and he had every right to be. Yixing was, after all, a cop.

“Because as far as I know, he is innocent.” Yixing played absentmindedly with his sleeves, but his eyes were just as piercing as Luhan’s voice. Luhan looked away, scoffing.

“What a saint. You know, we’ve killed a lot of people too.”

“Only when vampires became public knowledge did any such killings emerge from our society and for that, humans should have taken some of the blame. After all, the people your kind leave alive are executed by us anyways.”

“So what is your plan?” Joonmyun accepted a cup of coffee from Sehun, twisting to look at the medic. Yixing was unlike any human he had ever encountered before.

“As Minseok would know,” Yixing glanced at his captain, “Silver linings are incredibly expensive. AVPF headquarters only uses them in the holding cells, the two control rooms and the top level offices. This is why I need Sehun. I can get to the control room on floor nine, disable the cameras for a maximum of ten minutes whilst Sehun gets to the control room _underground_ and frees Chanyeol. But this is where I need more people…” He didn’t know whether to be glad or worried at his audiences’ silence.

“Minseok needs to wait for Sehun down at the cells, teach him how to unlock them and lift the silver lining -”

“I’m going down there too.” Baekhyun lifted his chin, as if daring a rebuttal. Yixing just nodded in acquiescence. 

“That should be easy to accomplish. The best day to do this will be Sunday or Monday next week -”

“Sunday.”

“- and that’s because only one other squad should be in HQ.”

“So they need a distraction.” Joonmyun sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “And the only thing that will distract AVPF officers are vampires.”

“It will have to be a damn big distraction.” Minseok got up, started to pace. “The director will most likely stay in his room, so he’s not a threat, but the president, Tao’s cousin, has returned and she’s…”

“Very enthusiastic.” Yixing finished for him. “She will pounce on anything and everything she can, so we need her out of the building if the plan is going to work.”

The group fell silent, their thoughts swelling between them. Luhan looked up at Yi Fan, a mischievous spark in his eyes. Yi Fan frowned back.

“Whatever you’re thinking, no. Just no.”

“Hear me out!” Luhan flitted over to Yixing, ignoring the way he flinched at the sudden movement. “What’s the biggest shit that’s going down right now?”

“The rogues.”

“Anything else?”

“Nothing under AVPF’s jurisdiction.”

“Great. We’re gonna need some paint.” Luhan grinned, snapping his fingers in front of Yi Fan to get his attention. “What did you say the message was? The one the rogues wrote on the wall?”

Understanding dawned in Yi Fan’s eyes, he turned to Minseok. “Will that be enough?”

“It depends on the location.” Minseok continued his pacing. “I doubt mere words would draw them out of HQ.”

“Like what? Dead bodies?” Kyungsoo tossed his paper cup with precision, landing it squarely into the bin. “That’ll be a pain – ow.” He glared reproachfully at Sehun, the human had clipped him over the head with the receipt holder.

“Would property damage suffice?” asked Joonmyun. Minseok stopped, shared a glance with Yixing. They nodded. Luhan gave an excited laugh.

“But I do have one condition, and I guess Minseok will too.” Yixing looked at each of them in turn, getting to Baekhyun last and staying there. “You can’t touch Jongdae, Jongin and Tao, no matter what they’ve done thus far.”

Baekhyun’s mouth mashed into a hard line. “What if we don’t agree?”

“Then you won’t get your mate back.”

The vampires (minus Minseok) stared at the human in disbelief. Disbelief and the beginnings of respect. Yixing had the guts to threaten a _vampire_ of all things. Bravery or insanity was separated by a thin line. A tense moment passed, then Baekhyun relented.

“Fine. I agree.” His coven nodded. Everyone was in favour. Great. Yixing opened his mouth, thought a bit, closed it and started to fiddle with his sleeves again.

“Um. I’m still not sure of everyone’s real names?”

\---

Minseok left with Baekhyun tucked to his side, promising to meet Yixing back at HQ afterwards. Not long after them, Kyungsoo slipped away. Luhan and Sehun turned the sign back to ‘open’ and busied themselves behind the counter. Joonmyun heard Luhan’s soft voice rise in agitation.

“Did you really let Baek bite you?”

“Of course I did.”

“But -”

“You said it didn’t matter.”

“It _doesn’t -_ ”

“Does it?” Sehun ‘s voice was tired, Joonmyun could almost see how his hands were on his hips, glaring at Luhan, daring him to say something.

“Joonmyun.” A soft voice snapped him out of it. Yixing was tapping his knee with a hesitant finger. “The rogues… do you know who they really are?”

Joonmyun sighed, “We don’t. They’re a pain to track, we’ve only managed to find one of their empty nests in Mapo and we know there’s another group in Sosa.” Yixing suddenly straightened, intensely focused once again.

“How many in Sosa?”

“Five, maybe more. Why?”

“Tao planned to go there tonight -”

“Where?” For the first time that night, Yi Fan stood close enough for Yixing to touch. The medic tried not to flinch.

“I don’t know exactly…”

Yi Fan’s face twisted, torn by whatever was running through his head.

“Yi  Fan.” Joonmyun said gently. The two vampires stayed for a split second, then Yi Fan left, his inhuman speed making Yixing doubt their exchange in the first place.

 

* * *

 

 

The bike had been left a couple of blocks away from where Tao was now, leaning outside a loud, noisy club alongside other young men and women who reeked of booze. He fiddled away casually on his phone, eyes not on the screen but on the few people who walked in and out of the club doors. He was looking for a particular face, a vampire logged on AVPF’s expansive database. It always came out right about – there it was. The hair was dyed an obscene green, a colour you never saw out of kpop idol groups, but the features were the same. Tao stumbled forwards, feigning drunkenness, and careened into his target, words slurring.

“Hey man – leaving already?” His hand brushed the vampire’s collar, slipping his tracker just under the folds of fabric. Small, silent and almost weightless. Leech shouldn’t notice it. Tao continued to smile, deliberately focusing at some point over the vampire’s shoulder. It gave him an appraising look, a look a normal person would consider as appreciative, a look a sucker cop would recognize as hungry. Before it could decide whether Tao would be worth a bite, Tao lurched away, fetching up on the wall once again and groaning for extra effect. Out of his squad, Jongin was the best vampire bait by far – you should really see him in skin-tight leathers. Tao was a bit too tall, too difficult for vampires looking out for a meal and this vampire, like many others, brushed it off and walked away. Tao waited a good minute before pulling out the tracking system on his phone. A blue dot blinked at him, right on one of the possible nest spots. 

It was a surprisingly busy spot, if you counted the humans curled up in the alleyways, homeless or high, either way they were easy pickings for a vampire. Tao kept his head down and settled down across the street, eyes trained on pools of light created by streetlamps and – more importantly – the shadows around them. There was that vampire again, walking down the street, arms linked with another male. Had a facemasks on this time.

_Two._

Tao waited patiently, trying not to tweak his shoulder. It had started to ache, the wall behind his back feeling harder than ever. Another figure strode through the pools of light, too fast, too quickly. Female.

_Three._

Tao continued to wait.

 

An hour had passed until a new one appeared. Male, short. Not in AVPF’s databases. Tao was beginning to suspect not all of them nested here. Four was a lot for one area and the original vampire he tracked had moved off to another potential nest. There were probably several set up all over the city. Too concentrated on the road, Tao jumped at a tap to his shoulder.

 _Five._ A familiar face met his gaze. Mentally, Tao corrected himself. _Not five. Four. Not a rogue… but still. Vampire._ His stake was in his hands before he knew it, stabbing viciously. The tall vampire leapt backwards out of range. Hands up in a sign of peace, Kris sighed and spoke.

“You’re in the wrong place.” Kris beckoned with a finger, not bothering to check if Tao followed him or not, and left, disappearing into the darkness. Against his better judgement, Tao followed.

 

They were back at the strip of night clubs and bars and Kris, to Tao’s surprise, slipped straight through an open set of doors, hued colours flashing on his face. Tao ended up shoved onto a couch, pressed against a cold, stiff body. He scowled.

“And here is a better place because?”

“See anyone you recognize?”

Tao was tempted to glower at this asshole vampire, but he grudgingly turned to study the crowd. One, two, three… four. All four of them were here.

“Did you already know they were here?”

“Now I do. Never tracked them back before.”

“You’re very blasé for someone supposedly chasing down rogues.” Tao would have yelled to be heard over the god-awful music until he remembered who he was talking to.

“There have been other… difficulties.” The voice was dry, humorless. Tao ignored it in favour of his surveillance. Another two females laughed alongside the original four.

_Six of them. That’s a lot. Too many. Them and the ones that got killed in Guro made a total of nine._

“Seven of them.”

“What?”

“Guy with the nose piercings.” At Kris’s direction, Tao zoned in on another male, swinging his hips to the beat on the dance floor.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Can’t they smell you too?”

Kris barked a laugh. “Yeah.”

“Then how -”

“They aren’t specifically looking for me, we're so sensitive to everything we usually ignore a lot of it.”

“And you’re specifically looking for them.”

“Yup.”

“Just when _I’m_ specifically looking for them.”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

Tao breathed deep, instantly regretting his decision when a wave of sweat, alcohol and vomit assaulted his nose. He sucked in air through his mouth instead. “Who are you?” In his peripheral, Tao registered green-hair-leech, his girl buddy and two more leave. Kris’s eyes bored into his. This vampire which popped up at the most random moments held so much of Tao’s curiosity. Just as abruptly as Kris had walked into Tao’s life tonight, he got up and walked back out, weaving past a sea of bodies. What else could Tao do but follow again?

 

Tao was afraid the vampire had vanished into the streets, just like he had before, but he was surprised to turn a corner and smack face-first into its chest. Around them the night was silent, Tao hadn’t even noticed how the chatter of people had fallen away.

“Stop following me.” Said Kris.

“You followed me first. Answer my fucking question.” Tao couldn’t see why of all people this vampire would be somehow invested in running around Tao like a moth drawn to flame. It was certain death for both of them, a vampire with a cop or a cop with a vampire.

“Who are you?” Kris copied his question perfectly, but the phrase landed oddly from his mouth, like it was a legitimate question he was asking Tao. There was a pause, filled with uncertain nothing. Tao refused to look away, like it was some point of pride to prove in front of this vampire, this strange vampire. Kris stepped forward and they were once again centimetres apart. The vampire raised his hand slowly, hesitantly, and cold fingertips brushed down Tao’s cheek.

 

Tao shivered, there were so many things wrong with this. A vampire was touching him, close enough to bite him, and he wasn’t pulling out his stake.

“Her name was Jiazi.” Tao flinched at Kris’s low voice. “You… look like her.”

In that moment, it was as if someone had handed Tao a high power torch in place of a feeble flame. His understanding clicked, Kris did not need to say anything else for Tao to see, to see the couple in his mind’s eye. The man would be tall, familiar, and the woman would have Tao’s fox eyes and curved lips. Maybe she would frequently tuck back her baby hairs, her fingernails would be nibbled on and she would jerk her knee when she was deep in thought. Maybe she had also been a cop, or the equivalent of a cop all those years ago. Maybe she would always frown when her name was called, a name that had been worn down to a blank slate, the letters that gave her existence absent from her grave. An existence only Kris can truly remember. It all fell neatly together as Tao stared into the vampire’s eyes.

”But I’m not her.”

“I know.”

“So why?” Their breaths ghosted over each other’s cheeks. “Why are you coming back?”

“Because…” That finger was really cold. “You’re not her.”  

Instead of pushing him off, Tao gave an exasperated groan as he loosely gripped Kris’s shirt. “What am I doing? I should be reporting you.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong. Yet.”

“You’ve been an obstacle to a police investigation.”

“I showed you all the rogues in the first place.”

Tao snapped his mouth shut. Fuck. He settled on a glare.

“Meet me the day after tomorrow.” Yi Fan tilted his head, expression unreadable. “I’d have found one of the rogue nests by then.”

“Why?” _Why are you helping me? Why are you doing this?_

“Are you deaf?” Yi Fan flicked him between the eyes. Ouch. “The rogues are a threat to the domestic covens. The rogues are a threat to humans. It’s a win-win situation if we get rid of them.”

“Alright, fine.” This time Tao did pull away, crossing his arms. “But I won’t show up if you don’t tell me your name.”

“Kri -”

“ _Real_ name.”

The vampire stared at him sceptically and oops – Tao totally forgot to avoid his eyes, he quickly looked somewhere else. “I’m not working with someone who can’t trust me enough to tell me their name.”

“And if I said my name really is Kris?”

“Good luck versing six rogues by yourself.”

His laugh startled Tao, the amusement in Kris’s voice making Tao scowl.

“Fine then, don’t tell me -”

“It’s Yi Fan.”

“What?”

“My name you stubborn thing.” Kris – wait no it’s Yi Fan – put his mouth right next to Tao’s ear. “Wu. Yi. Fan.” Then he was gone, leaving behind a dumbstruck Tao.

\---

By the time Yi Fan got back to his nest Baekhyun had made himself at home on the couch, surrounded by blankets and pillows – courtesy of Joonmyun probably – and in another of Minseok’s set of clothes.

“Hey Baek.”

“Joonmyun walked Yixing back to AVPF headquarters and Minseok’s probably there too.”

“Thought so.” Yi Fan sighed, removed his shoes and plopping down next Baekhyun.

“Yi Fan, I’m lonely.” Baekhyun leaned onto Yi Fan, dejectedly rearranging the blankets to include the taller vampire. Letting Baekhyun curl up into a ball of cotton and wool, Yi Fan patted his head in understanding. It was a feeling only Yi Fan could really relate to, a feeling that Luhan was slowly learning – and, unknown to them, Joonmyun was learning too. It wasn’t loneliness per se, there was just something missing, hollow space filling where previously someone had plugged the gap with smiles and comfort. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“When… Jiazi left.” _When she died you mean._ “All of us didn’t know what to do and you had to deal with all that shit by yourself.”

“Well, I turned out fine so -”

Baekhyun jabbed him in the stomach, eliciting a wheeze. “I’m not done yet! Anyways, now when her almost-literal doppelganger comes up again, we have all this rogue bullshit and we have _my_ problems and we aren’t helping you again -”

“Baekhyun, chill.” The short vampire squirmed as Yi Fan poked him, “You guys are helping me, you just need to be there.”  
They fell into comfortable silence, so long that Yi Fan thought Baekhyun had fallen asleep. He made to extricate himself from Baekhyun’s grasp when the question startled him.

“What will you do about Tao?”

Yi Fan paused.

_But I’m not her_

“I’ll help him whenever I can.” Gently repositioning the blankets over Baekhyun’s body, Yi Fan stood. “Try and get some sleep Baek.”

“Ok mum.”

“Shut up.”

 

Back in his room, Yi Fan lay on his back and stared listlessly at the ceiling, contemplating. When he closed his eyes, recounting the events of tonight, Yi Fan did not see long hair, nor did he see his dead lover’s soft features. Instead he saw Tao simply as Tao himself. But… did he really see it like that? If there was no Jiazi, would he still have felt such an attraction to Tao? Yi Fan sat up, mussing his hair in frustration. He was dead, so was Jiazi, but Tao was alive and kicking. Tao did not rest underground in a cramped cold coffin, hot blood ran through his veins and every brush, every contact had nearly scalded Yi Fan. Tao had a time limit and Yi Fan was loathe to crash it.

\---

There was a sweet moment where Tao thought he’d be able to get into bed without a hassle. Then Ziwei walked in like a knife through the butter of his dazed stupor.

“I hope your scout was fruitful Zitao.” She smiled, linking arms with him. “It’s rather regretful uncle has decided to keep me on surveillance.” Tao gritted his teeth, her grip was tight and dug unpleasantly into his stitches. If any of them ripped again Yixing might actually kill her.

“Ziwei, I have no interest in your area of work.”

His cousin clicked her tongue in admonishment, “Now is that something the future director should say?”

“That is none of your business.”

“But it is.” Ziwei twirled around, blocking Tao’s way. “I have great concerns for you, dear cousin. Such chronic disinterest, are you really cut out for such a position?”

“Father seems to think so.” He brushed past her. “And you should just stay behind your cameras.”

“Of course Zitao.” Ziwei kept up with him, walking up the stairs with the same smile on her face. “And that brings me back to what I originally intended to talk about.”

“What.”

“Disappointments.”

Tao froze, his hand on the stair railing.

“You know that blank grave in Jangmi? That’s the one that gets the white roses.”

“It’s just a silly myth Ziwei.”

“Awww, you’re no fun.” She laughed. “The person was a ‘she’ and she was a great disappointment. She was caught with a vampire, such a disgrace.”

Tao forced his legs to move, one step at a time.

“You know, the squad that got buried? Mark’s squad was it?”

Whatever she wanted to say, Tao did not want to hear it. “Their coffins were empty.” Bodies cremated. Just in case they somehow came back again.

Tao kept walking, “I know.”

“They served their time honourably -”

“Shut up.”

“And they died monsters.”

He whirled around furiously, grabbing her by the collar. “Don’t speak of them that way.”

“What? I just wanted to make a point.” Instead of pushing away, Ziwei laid her arms over his, leaning mockingly towards his face. “Dying a monster still got you more respect than fucking a monster. You know how Miss Blank Grave died? Her father hung her up Zitao, slit her throat and let her bleed out like a pig -” Tao shoved her off, almost tripping over the stair steps.

“Why the fuck are you telling me this?”

“Just looking out for you, you’re my cousin after all.” Ziwei straightened her shirt, sweeping her hair behind her ears. “Just a little scare. We don’t want you to disappoint us Zitao.” Giving her cousin a wave, she walked back down, heels clicking away. Tao stayed rooted to the spot, clutching the railings, shaken.

\---

Ziwei smiled, the tracker she retrieved from Tao's sleeve sitting innocently in her palm, and returned to her place in the camera control room. Maybe Tao thought surveillance was boring, and maybe it was. But there was no denying how useful the cameras were. Humming to herself, Ziwei started filing her reports.

\--- 

When Tao finally made it to the sanctuary of his room, Jongin was still awake, fiddling on his phone. Tao collapsed into his bed with a groan.

“Hey Jongin did you – what happened to your face?”

“Uh.” Jongin ducked his head, hiding the purple-black splodge streaking over his cheekbone. Tao rolled off his bed, bouncing onto Jongin’s and peering down worriedly.

“Was it those fuckers again?”

Jongin sighed, “Yeah. But as a cop I must remind you that you are not allowed to chase them down and beat them up.” Tao snorted, taking a hold of Jongin’s hands and inspecting his reddened knuckles.

“I don’t think I need to, you look like you gave as much as you got.”

“Broke one of their noses.”

“Pfft, weak.”

“And one of them'll need stitches.”

“Nice.” Tao thumped him on the shoulder, “I guess they went off to cry somewhere?”

“I hope they don’t report me.” Jongin flopped back with a groan.

“They can’t, not if they don’t want to get in trouble too.”

“I think I need to put more ice on it.” Picking up a mostly-liquid cold pack, Jongin put it under his cheek.

Tao picked at the blankets.

“Hey Jongin.”

He was replied with a muffled groan.

“Do you think vampires can really fall in love?” The question was delivered in the same way a small child would ask if Santa was coming for Christmas. He wanted to believe, but he couldn’t. Jongin sat up, the cold pack forgotten on his pillow.

“Where is this coming from?”

Tao couldn’t exactly say: _Well, there’s this one vampire who fell in love with my ancestor and they probably fucked a few times and now he’s helping me out with the rogues._ So he went for a different tack, not the one he had in mind but no less truthful. “The leech you caught. And that phone call.”

Jongin rolled around to face him, lifting his head slightly to frown at his friend on the other bed. “… I think – and don’t tell Jongdae this – but I think we messed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think Xing was right.” Jongin was barely above a whisper now. “And also what you told us about Mark. I think they can feel, they can hurt, just like we can.” Tao stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

“Hey Jongin?”

“Mmm?”

“That group of people Sehun hung out with.”

“Yeah?”

“…I hope they treat him ok.” With that, they fall silent but they do not fall asleep. The conversation felt unfinished, unsaid things hovering between them. Neither of them knew they were thinking about exactly the same thing. _They’re vampires. All of them._

 

* * *

 

 

Maybe Yixing should have put some forethought into this. Joonmyun had walked him all the way back to HQ. Well, ‘walked’ was a bit of a loose term. It hadn’t taken long for the vampire to realize it would have taken forever to get back on foot, and he’d picked Yixing up like a feather and _ran_. It took less than five minutes. Now, Yixing sat on the steps of AVPF with a sigh, slightly disorientated. Joonmyun, the _vampire_ , stood awkwardly beside him.

“You alright?”

Yixing flipped a thumbs up.

“Ok…” Joonmyun started a hesitant shuffle away from the medic. “Well, I’ll be going?”

“Stay?”

“Ok.” His answer was a little too quick. After a pause, Joonmyun took a seat one step lower than Yixing, turning halfway to stare. Caught in the quiet, Yixing’s voice startled him.

“There was a squad that was turned.”

“… Yes, Minseok told me about that.”

“How?” Yixing met Joonmyun’s gaze with that same, piercing curiosity. Joonmyun had to look away, tilting his face up to the stars. He pondered for a few minutes, rearranging his thoughts.

“How much do you know about the turning?”

“Next to nothing, except that the newly turned are overtaken by their thirst. We almost never come across them though.”

“Creators are usually very protective of the people they turn.” When Joonmyun closed his eyes, he saw Baekhyun curled protectively over the newly-turned Chanyeol, how Minseok refused to move in the twenty-four hours it took for Yi Fan to wake up again. He remembered how he himself had sat beside Kyungsoo’s bed, gripping a hand that was slowly losing it’s warmth, and praying he did everything right. “It is during the process of turning that we are at our most vulnerable.”

Yixing waited patiently, knowing there was more to come.

“To turn someone, the human must be dead, whether it be by accident or with consent.”

“So, if you found someone dying of disease or injury, you’d still be able to turn them?”

Joonmyun opened his eyes, a short bark of humorless laughter falling from his lips. “It would be mercy to let them die.” Kyungsoo had hated Joonmyun for decades, but Joonmyun couldn’t just leave the young man broken and bleeding in the dirt. He didn’t regret it, and Kyungsoo had come to terms with his new life too. “No matter the state they’re in, the creator must drain their blood.”

Mark and his squad’s pale bodies came to Yixing’s mind.

“Then, the creator has to feed the body with their own blood.” Joonmyun could almost feel the slice of a blade against his wrist, red dripping into Kyungsoo’s slack mouth. “We haven’t met a vampire who knew _why_ the process is as it is, but after a day, the body is reanimated and comes back as a vampire. The ones you catch are young, careless and wild because the control – over our thirst – comes with age.”

“And you don’t have to feed as much?”

“We can last longer without.”

Joonmyun heard a rustle, the warmth from Yixing’s body growing closer as he slid down next to Joonmyun.

“Is that how you -” Yixing motioned at his eyes. Joonmyun nodded. There’s another pause, but instead of his usual sharp concentration, Yixing seemed shy. “Can I see?”

Wordlessly, Joonmyun shifted, let heat pool into his eyes. Yixing dipped forward curiously, unintentionally bringing them closer together by placing his palms on either side of Joonmyun’s face. They were close. Way too close. The vampire breathed shallowly through his mouth. It was different from before, Yixing wasn’t testing him or experimenting or whatever the hell it was when they first met, he was just unaware of how his sweet human scent set Joonmyun’s throat on fire.

“Why does it change colour?”

“We run off the blood we drink.” Joonmyun had to breathe to finish his damn sentence and he could almost _taste_ Yixing. “When we draw on that energy, it shows up in our eyes.”

But suddenly, Yixing wasn’t looking at his eyes anymore. Inquisitive fingers brushed Joonmyun’s lips and the vampire realized that the tips of his fangs were visible. So much for control. Mentally sighing in resignation, Joonmyun pulled back his lips, exposing gum, and slowly let his fangs run out, painfully aware of Yixing’s thin, human skin barely a breath away.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“Should I be?” Yixing’s gaze flicked up, as if expecting resistance, but Joonmyun stayed compliant as he ran a finger down his fang. Joonmyun, for the first time in his life, wished he was like that vampire from ‘Dark light’ or ‘Twilight’ or something. The ability to read minds would be amazing help when dealing with Zhang Yixing.

“No.”

Yixing shuffled forward further – at this point he was basically on Joonmyun’s lap – to peer at the vampire’s alien-smooth skin. Joonmyun stopped breathing. Yixing jerked back, sheepishly tangling his hands together.

“My apologies, I forget myself.”

“It’s fine…” He normally felt irked, when vampires were treated as things rather than people, but he got an idea that this was how Yixing treated everybody. He grinned at Yixing, showing him how his fangs were safely tucked away. Yixing flushed, gaze dropping to his feet.

“If you ever want to feed, I’m available.”

Joonmyun shouldn’t have bothered to pack away those fangs. The wave of thirst that hit him was maybe the worst he’d had in the last century. He could sense the thin film of protection around Yixing, whatever strange law it was surrounding human’s consent, dissolve into nothing. Joonmyun locked up, going jarringly still, and Yixing’s nerves jangled. A vampire was a vampire, no matter their intentions.

“Jesus, Xing.”

“Sorry.” Yixing’s hands fell to his side, unable to decide between touching and or staying away. “Should I not have done that?”

“Still not scared of me?” Joonmyun watched Yixing’s mouth set in a firm line.

“No.”

\---

Chanyeol’s entire world had devolved into pain, the burning heat of silver. It wasn’t just on his skin anymore, it was in his throat, twisting his gut. Chanyeol was hungry. He was _starving_ , and that crazy bitch with the knives was not helping. As if summoned by his dim thoughts, the click of heels on flooring pervaded his ears.

_No, not again._

“Hello, pet.”

Chanyeol refused to open his eyes, not out of fright for this sadistic human, but out of unwillingness to look down at his body. His clothes were still saturated with dry blood, burns prominent on pale skin. A screeching sound cut through his head.

“You lied to me.” He voice purred. Something clicked outside the bars; Chanyeol kept his eyelids closed. If he could see her arranging her dainty little knives and vials of silver powder he’d break down. She continued speaking casually, like she was greeting him in the morning.

“I don’t appreciate it when I’m lied to.” _Where are the rogues?_

_I’m not a rogue._

_Where are your friends?  
_

_Don’t know._

“I thought for sure you told me the right thing yesterday, but all we got was an empty nest.”  
_Yeah right like I’d tell you where my coven is._ Where Baekhyun was. Baekhyun…

“Last chance, pet.” Her footsteps grew louder, seeming close enough to touch. “Tell me where the rest of them are or we’re going to have some fun.”

Chanyeol grit his teeth, felt his fangs pierce his bottom lip. She laughed, like a child especially amused by some new toy, and Chanyeol tensed.

_Hurry up. Hurry up, go away. Leave me alone._

Nothing prepared Chanyeol for the sudden spike of sweet, aroma in the air. Blood. Warm blood. His eyes flew open and he could finally see her. The tip of her own knife had pricked a finger, red pearling through skin.

She smiled, “Tell me pet.”

Chanyeol’s claws dug into his palms. _Don’t breathe don’t breathe don’t breathe –_ He was thirsty.

“Tell me and I’ll take the thirst away.” His tormentor was so close, toeing the silver line keeping him behind bars. An ugly grin twisted her smile into something more insidious, something crazy, then she slashed the knife across her palm. The scent of blood filled his head and – unable to control himself – Chanyeol bolted up, ignoring the stab of pain racing up his leg, and slammed his hand against the silver bars.

\---

“Must you fuck around so much?”

“Hello Jongdae.” Ziwei had to yell to be heard over the vampire’s screaming, cupping her bloody hands around her mouth. Jongdae stood, leaning against the wall, and watched the leech writhe. “What’s wrong?”

“Just get your answers and kill it.”

“You’re no fun.” She let her blade open up another shallow gash. The leech snapped, seeming to lose whatever little control it still had over its bloodlust, and it tried to reach past the bars. Silver sizzled.

“You’re insane.”

“It’s a vampire.” Blood still slowly creeping through the creases of her hand, Ziwei walked up to him, leaned back on the wall next to him, and sighed with deep disappointment as their captive resided and curled back up in its cell. “I didn’t expect you of all people to pity such things.”

“You can call it pity if you want, I’d call it efficiency.” Jongdae kicked off the wall and stopped. The vampire was staring at him. There was a glint of recognition in those red eyes. Minseok wouldn’t approve of this, their squad captain always ended things quickly. Coldly maybe, but quickly. “If you keep it up you’ll drive it into a craze.”

“I wonder how much I’ll have to taunt it.” Another small slice down her arm and the vampire groaned, clawed fingers digging into its own arms.

“What? It tells you where the rest of the rogues are and you let it feed off you?”

Ziwei laughed, walking forward and crouching down to bring herself level with the leech. She took a small vial out of her pocket, one Jongdae knew to be filled with silver powder. “You hear that? Tell me where all your friends are and I’ll let you feed.”

“I’m not a rogue.” The vampire’s voice was rough and weak.

“Tell us and I’ll let your friend off.” Jongdae carefully kept his eyes away from the vampire’s. “I checked your backgrounds, music teachers huh?”

He could feel its red stare boring a hole in his forehead.

“What was his name? Baekhyun right?”

More silence. Then:

“Please you have to believe me. I’m not a rogue.”

Ziwei’s knife clicked on the bars, “I thought I told you not to lie, pet.”

“But I’m not. I’m not –”

Ziwei tapped some silver powder onto her palm, pouting her lips and blowing it to settle over the vampire like a lover would blow a kiss. It cut off with a shriek, clawing at its own face. Slightly sickened, Jongdae turned and left, walking out past rows of cells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter probably won't be for two more weeks >w<  
> Feedbacks! Comments! :)  
> UPDATE 9/11/17: Next chapter has been posted!


	8. Calm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM ALIVE IT FEELS GOOD TO BE ALIVE  
> *listens to Monster on loop whilst writing*

Baekhyun opened his eyes to disorientation, rolling to the left and expecting Chanyeol’s long arms to wrap around him when all he got was empty air, tipping off the edge of the couch and thumping to the floor still swaddled in blankets.

He lay very still, swallowing down tears, before tuning in to the noises that woke him in the first place. Joonmyun’s voice filtered into his consciousness, softer voices replying his words. On the phone. Baekhyun blinked and got up, shuffling into Joonmyun’s room hugging the blankets to his chest.

 

Joonmyun was sitting on the edge of his bed. He perked up when Baekhyun entered, smiling and letting Baekhyun curl up next to him. The voice on the other end of the call – Jinki’s voice – sounded stressed.

“- almost got caught. Jonghyun and Kibum are already out of Seoul.”

“What about Taemin and Minho?”

“Taemin’s with me, Minho’s running to meet the other two.” A deep breath. “We have no nests left.”

Joonmyun and Baekhyun shared an alarmed look. “The five of you need to get out as quickly as possible.”

“But Chanyeol –”

“The more of us caught, the worse it’ll be. Without a place to nest you’ll be found in a day.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Joonmyun rest his elbows on his knees. “Have you heard from Yerim? We haven’t been able to contact her.”

“Checked her nest area two hours ago. They’re gone. Hopefully they haven’t been caught too.”

“I guess the next time I see you won’t be in Seoul my friend.”

“Be careful Joon.” 

Joonmyun hung up, face creased with worry. He ran his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair, combing it off his forehead.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” 

Baekhyun grunted.

“The days are getting shorter, we’ll feel better when its winter.” What worried Joonmyun more than AVPF and nests and vampire deaths was Baekhyun’s silence. Baekhyun never went for more than ten minutes without chatting someone’s head off and the rest of them had always looked at it with fond irritation. Now that it was gone… “Baek, do you want to get out of the house for a bit?”

“I’m currently sunlight intolerant.” Baekhyun slid onto the floor, hiking up the blankets over his head.

“It’ll feel better when you’re out doing something.” Joonmyun stood up, gently pushing the sheets away from Baekhyun and pulling him to his feet. “We can always nose around after the rogues again.”

Baekhyun contemplated his choices, eventually flitting off to put on a decent shirt and some jeans. Joonmyun tossed him one of his own jackets – it would be strange for someone to be walking around in a thin shirt on a day that averaged ten degrees (Celsius). They left the nest, surfacing above ground level in the storage area of a library. The building was separate from the main complex, nobody noticed when keys went missing and no one ever bothered to check. Hands in their pockets and facemasks hugging their features, they strolled casually out the doors.

 

Joonmyun ended up buying the newspaper – as he always did – and Baekhyun piled sugar into his coffee, trying hard not to think about the way Chanyeol’s face would twist in mock disgust at Baekhyun’s habits. Baekhyun gritted his teeth and shoved his thoughts off, leaning over the table to read the news upside down. The front page had all the articles and headings about the rise in vampiric activity (Baekhyun didn’t expect otherwise), but the next few pages were all filled with –

“Missing people.” Baekhyun frowned, leaning forward more to study the smiling faces and names that stared out at him. “Not suspected to be because of vampires. That’s a first.”

“There’s a lot of them.” Joonmyun tapped on one of the reports, “These are only the ones that have been reported and more come in every day.”

“They’ll probably pin it on us somehow. Again.”

“It doesn’t concern us.” Joonmyun took a sip from his fast-cooling coffee, eyes latched to the news.

Baekhyun nodded, “We have bigger problems to worry about.”

\---

Patience was something you learned with time, and Minseok’s had a lot of time. It still took him a lot of effort to not shake the printer to pieces when it blinked red with an ‘out of paper’ error. He had just fed in another stack of paper to the ever-hungry contraption when the steady thumping of a heart pricked on the edges of his sense. He pressed the ‘print’ button, leaning casually on a desk and watching it spit out printed pages as Tao walked into the room.

“Morning. I thought you were still asleep.”

“Couldn’t really relax…” Tao muttered, rubbing at sleepless eyes. “But uh, why are you copying out all the stuff I got on the Sosa district?”  
Minseok plucked the sheets from Tao’s hands, stacking it neatly with the rest sitting next to the photocopier. “Just in case you lose something.”

“That was one time!”

“One time was enough.” Minseok sighed in relief, stapling the pages together as Tao pouted. Distraction successful. Now he just needed to get these to Yi Fan. “Is Jongin awake yet?”

“It’s Jongin and we didn’t set the alarm today.”

“Go wake him up, I thought he wanted to practice dance?”

“Actually,” Tao stepped out the door, looking back. “We were thinking of hanging out with Sehun a bit before Jongin hits the dance studio.”

“Don’t just crash his place.”

“You insult me captain.” Tao grinned and bounded away, undoubtedly going to wake up his friend. Minseok allowed himself to pause for a moment, smiling fondly after Tao, before tucking the reports into his bag and strolling out of headquarters and into the sunshine. 

\---

Almost in an exact replica of how Baekhyun and Joonmyun found themselves poring over the news, Minseok and Yi fan’s table was covered with the reports and maps (illegally) copied from AVPF’s database. Perks of being a captain.

“Tao’s already memorized most of this.”

“Dear god.” Yi Fan was barely through half of it yet and it’s been almost an hour since they had sat down at Minseok’s café and dragged out the notes. No one paid them much mind, they didn’t look a hair out of place of two frazzled, stressed uni students grabbing a quick breakfast before their classes. Minseok tapped thoughtfully on the table.

“The area around the club you went to last night has been ruled out as a possible nest area, and where you found Tao was nothing but a temporary nest.”

“Their permanent nest is still relatively near Guro.” Yi Fan thumbed through the pages, pulling one out for Minseok to see. He pointed at a spot, “This was where they were last time. And this –” Yi Fan went to another area, “Is another of Tao’s guesses for potential nesting areas.”

“It makes sense, jumping across abandoned warehouses. But…”

“Too obvious.” Yi Fan finished for him. “So I was thinking, what if they were using the active factories? What’s the state of defense against vampires for their warehouses?”  
Minseok sipped thoughtfully at his drink, setting the mug down away from their notes.

“The last time AVPF did a check, half of their silver linings were broken.”

“That’s perfect. Cops can’t smell them, so it’d be like playing ‘hit the mole on the head’.” Yi Fan said. “No way for them to guess for sure where the nest was.”

“You’ll have to speak with Tao, before you go in.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to find the goddamn nest first though.”

“Will you go today?” Minseok gathered up their mess, stacking them together neatly and slipping them into a folder. Yi Fan nodded, draining the last of his coffee.

“Come with me?”

“Sure.”

\---

It was easy to wake up at night, when the sun wasn’t beating down their senses. The night made Kyungsoo glad to stand up and stretch, but getting up when it was day time was like getting hit with a wall of bricks. Today though, Kyungsoo had no trouble bolting out of bed. He tilted his head, ears turned to the door as he cursed his dulled senses, and was met by the soft tread of feet. Sucker cops. Had to be.

Much like Joonmyun’s, no one walked into his area of the train maintenance tunnels. Kyungsoo threw on a shirt and a jumper, slapped on a facemask. Thankfully, he rarely unpacked his notes and books from his bag, so at least he won’t lose those today. Kyungsoo flashed to the bathroom, taking the handheld mirror he had always kept with him, and ran back out, picking up his phone on the way. 

The footsteps had stopped, but Kyungsoo could hear their breathing, the soft rustle of clothing. They were waiting for him. Did they even know he was there? He really should have gotten a nest with more than one exit point, like Chanyeol and Baekhyun did. Kyungsoo waited, barely breathing, behind his door. Let the cops move first. The breathing outside faded, distance silencing the sounds. He looked back one last time, at the cramped nest that had served him well for the past decade. Goodbye. Kyungso flung open the door. Something clicked and –

– pain exploded across his exposed skin. He doubled over, a hand flying up to his burning eyes. Silver. He ran for it, feeling the air burn against his skin. Must have been another type of bomb, packed with silver powder. Another click, heavier this time. Gun. Move. It went off with a bang. The bullet hit the walls with a shattering sound, Kyungsoo couldn’t tell from his stinging eyes. He yanked the hood down further over his head. More than one cop. Didn’t matter. He was faster.

By the time the sounds of pursuit faded away, his sight was back. Blurry, but there. The platform he descended onto was crowded with humans, rushing to work, and he blended in easily. When the next train rolled in, he boarded it.

\---

Cool water dripped into Yixing’s eyes. The medic shook his head viciously, trying to shake the flush from his cheeks. What had he been _thinking_ last night? Right smack bang in front of an Anti-Vampire Police Force’s headquarters he almost made out with a vampire. He basically stuck his fingers inside Joonmyun’s mouth. Yixing wanted to die. Furiously splashing water onto his face, Yixing didn’t notice Tao walk into the medic bay.

“Uh, Xing. You alright?”

The medic jumped, straightening up as he pushed his hair back, and answered a little too squeakily. “Yep! I’m fine.” Please let the blush be gone. “You should be resting. You have a big job tomorrow.”

Tao rolled his eyes. “I’ll sleep tonight. Jongin and I are going to see Sehun.”

“Be –”

“- careful yeah I know.” Tao reached down to mess with Yixing’s hair. Yixing whined, the motion turning into a yawn halfway through. “You need to sleep too Xing. You guys have 2am patrol again.”

“I’ll be –” Yawn. “- Fine.”

Tao laughed, turning to leave, until Yixing spoke up again.

“Where will you be on Sunday?”

“Well. If I don’t die tomorrow.” Tao laughed, “I’ll be out with Jongin. He wants to get a new pair of shoes. Why?”

“It’s nothing.” Yixing waved him off, “Be nice to Sehun.”

 

Tao left, presumably to drag Jongin out of HQ, and Yixing was once again left alone to the silence of the medic bay. Now should be fine. He walked past rows of beds, keeping his eyes off the last few which were occupied not so long ago, and opened the refrigerator. Lip caught between his teeth, Yixing took stock of the blood bags. If he took any more than two it would be too suspicious. So he hooked off two bags and casually made his way to the stairs. 

It was probably better that Minseok wasn’t around. They were lucky the first time, Ziwei had yet to take her place behind the cameras. This time, Yixing was too distracted to remember her, only realizing his blunder when he opened the door to the cells to face her in the flesh. Speak of the devil.

“Dr Zhang.”

“Miss Huang, good morning.” Yixing bowed his head with a smile, a much colder version of the one he sent Tao a few minutes past. He made no effort to hide the bags of blood. Too late.

“What are you doing?” Ziwei picked at her nails, seemingly disinterested.

Yixing held up his goods, “I thought it would be better to stave off its blood craze. I believe you want it sane enough to answer your questions.”

  
“It can answer me just fine.”

“I –”

She slapped him. It wasn’t hard, nor was it painful, but her lazy, negligent execution was the same way someone would kick a dog. When Yixing kept his silence, she grabbed him by the chin, nails digging under his jaw in sharp crescents of pain. Like claws.

“I do not care for people like you.” She leaned in, grip tightening, and Yixing fought the urge to throw her off. “You may have been lucky the last time, doctor. But if you so much as toe the line again, I’ll have you killed faster than a leech can run.”

Yixing didn’t let his own gaze waver from hers as he pressed his lips together.

“Am I understood, Dr Zhang?”

“He understands so fuck off.” A hand landed on Yixing’s shoulder, twisting Ziwei’s away. Jongdae shuffled the medic behind him protectively, outright scowling at the woman. Ziwei’s heels clicked on the floor, the sound sharp and dangerous.

“Just making sure Jongdae. I would be a shame for us to lose such an excellent medic.”

Jongdae’s tongue lashed in a retort. “If that’s the case, I can see why the director placed you as head of the investigative team. It would be a shame for such a genius like you to be massacred in the field.”

“If memory serves me right, Zitao is the one who got slashed to ribbons and stitched together again.”

“Only because he’s brave enough to step out of headquarters.” Jongdae’s lips curled into his predatory, feline smile as Yixing tugged on the back of his shirt, nervously eyeing a deceptively still Ziwei. She turned on her heel, throwing one last threat over her shoulder.

“If I see you near the cells again Dr Zhang, you’ll find yourself in one of them.”

 

Yixing replaced the blood bags with shaky fingers and shaky breaths, finding himself bent over the sink once more as water ran down his face. Jongdae flopped onto one of the empty beds.

“Xing, what were you doing?”

“… Giving blood to the vampire.” In the long silence that followed, Yixing dried off his skin and settled on the bed next to Jongdae’s, facing each other. “Just in case.”

Jongdae studied him wearily, given up on ever trying to understand his squad medic. Yixing’s… attitude had disturbed him greatly when he first started training but it usually settles into the background of their work. Until moments like these. 

“Xing, you’re cutting yourself to pieces like this.” Jongdae sighed. “She’ll pounce on you in a second. She _hates_ you. This is an exact rewind of the last time we had a captive but you’re not going to have a safety net to fall on. She wants to be the one holding the knife when they execute you.”

“What makes me an exception to your rules?” Yixing’s hands have disappeared into his sleeves as usual.

“I don’t have any rules against humans.”

“Jongdae…” When Yixing looked up, Jongdae could see the pained doctor in his eyes. “There are some rules which won’t work in this world.”

“I’ll work around them.”

“Innocent until proven guilty.”

“What?”

“That’s my rule.” Yixing’s eyes dipped to his feet. “And I think it works for vampires and humans alike.”

Jongdae got up, his expression closed and guarded. Yixing sighed internally as Jongdae turned to walk out of the medic bay.

“That’s too deep for me to register before noon.”

“Get more sleep Dae, we have patrol tomorrow.”

\---

It was mornings like these that Sehun enjoyed the most, the mornings where Luhan stayed. They lazed on his tiny bed, lips brushing together with the occasional nip of teeth. Sehun let the moment wash over him, knowing Luhan would be gone soon enough. They rolled, Luhan straddling his hips. The vampire hunched over, licking up Sehun’s neck. Sehun gasped, arching.

“Luhan! No biting.”

“Yeah yeah I know.” Luhan grinned mischievously, letting his fangs dig tauntingly into skin. Sehun sat up, trying to dislodge him. He didn’t get far. Luhan grazed a light line, tracing Sehun’s tendons. There wasn’t enough venom for Sehun’s mind to numb over, but it was enough for a buzz of pleasure to race up his spine, eliciting a moan. Luhan smirked, licking away whatever red that pearled on the surface.

“ _Luhan._ ”

“Naw, it’s just a scratch,” Luhan mouthed at his collarbones suggestively, slipping a hand under his shirt to flick over a nipple. Sehun gasped. “You can cover that one up easily.”

“You’re terrible.” But Sehun got his elbows under him so he could press their lips together, eyes fluttering close, opening up immediately for Luhan to let the vampire lick into his mouth. A sharp sting made Sehun groan as Luhan hummed in satisfaction, sucking at the newly-made cut on the human’s bottom lip. This time, Sehun managed to sit up, putting his hands on Luhan’s waist. His shirt came off with Luhan’s and the two were well on their way to getting buck-naked when someone knocked on the fucking door. The pair stopped mid-kiss, frustrated, when a familiar voice yelled:  
“Hun! Open up!”

 

“It’s Tao.” Whatever arousal Sehun had in his body vanished, like a candle in water. He turned to yell back, louder, “Coming!”

“Jongin’s with him too.” Luhan slipped on his shirt, “I can hear them.”

“Shit. How are you going to get out?”

“Just go get the door.” Luhan grinned and shoved Sehun off the bed. Against his better judgement, Sehun threw on the rest of his clothes to get the door. When he opened it, his friend’s eyebrows smashed up into their hairline and Sehun knew he looked a wreck. 

“Hey guys.”

“Are we interrupting something?”

“No.” Too late, Sehun realized Luhan was behind him, probably looking just as debauched. The vampire nudged him to the side, brushing past Tao and Jongin with a suggestive wink.

“We were just finishing up.”

Sehun choked and Luhan’s laughter floated back to them, the vampire disappearing down the corridor outside. Jongin was blushing almost as hard as Sehun was, “Uh, can we come in?”

 

“Call before you guys come next time?” Sehun whined. The red had faded from his skin, but he honestly couldn’t be bothered trying to hide the scratches on his neck and lip. As soon as they had sat around his living room/dining/kitchen table, Tao had burst into laughter, delighting in how uncomfortable his two friends looked.

“I didn’t think you’d have him over so early!” Tao wiped at his eyes, “Did he stay the night?”

“No!” Actually, we were plotting to break into AVPF headquarters and get Chanyeol back but nah, nothing really happened.

“Anyways.” Jongin elbowed Tao to stop his laughter, “We were wondering if you were free Sunday?”

“What’s up?”

“I need a new pair of shoes for dance.”

“Yeah, cause you keep wearing them for patrol and killing the soles.”

“You free?”

Sehun pursed his lips, “Not on Sunday. I’m busy.”

“With what?”

“Things.”

“Uh huh.” Tao quirked a grin, “With Luhan?” Sehun groaned and kicked at his legs under the table.

“If I give you coffee will you shut the fuck up?”

 

It turns out, Jongin and Tao had raided the grocery store for cookies and their conversation turned to university. There was some sort of audition coming up, Jongin could be going to China for some dance competition. Jongin’s face was lit up with the prospects, excited and loud. They laughed and chattered, passing the time until Tao’s phone buzzed. It was like a pause button, eyes turning to the screen. The noise died down instantly when they saw the caller ID. Mouth turned down in a grimace, Tao picked up the phone.

“Yes, father?”

Jongin tapped Sehun under the table  and they moved away, leaving Tao to talk.

\---

There was a new scent around the apartment, one that was starting to grate on Luhan’s nerves. It seemed like whoever had come to Sehun’s place that night never really went away. Today, the stalker vampire was back again, hanging out with some human. Luhan ignored the human. When he got outside, he leaned against the wall, staring at the back of the vampire’s head. It’s hair was an obnoxious green colour that just gave Luhan all the more reason to hate him. Luhan waited, the vampire would sense him soon enough. 

After a few seconds of staring, Mr Greenhair stiffened, turning to hiss in his direction. Luhan watched him squint slightly against the sun. When it became clear they recognized each other, Luhan pulled his lips back and snarled, eyes sharpening to red. He’d been with Sehun long enough for his scent to linger around him and the message was very clear: _Back the fuck off._ Not waiting for a response, Luhan turned on his heel and stalked away.

It took longer than usual to get back home – mid-morning always had the busiest streets – and when Luhan clambered down into his nest, he was surprised to see Kyungsoo pacing near the entrance. His questions died in his mouth as he picked up on burn marks.

“Hey Lu.”

“Is your nest gone?”

“Yup.”

“Fuck.” Luhan spat, fitting over to his cupboards to make some empty space. “Well, move your shit in here. You’re gonna have to make do with the couch until I get another mattress or something.”

“Thanks.”

“The cops are really driving us out.”

Kyungsoo sighed as he stacked whatever clothes he brought with him neatly next to Luhan’s. When one didn’t sweat or get oily hair, one didn’t really need a lot of clothes, and their wardrobes reflected that.

“Do you know any rings open tonight?”

Luhan scratched his head, frowning. “Sure you can’t hold out until – oh shit we don’t have time on Sunday do we?”

“Why?”

“The ring’s open in Mapo tonight, closed tomorrow.”

“Fuck.” Kyungsoo rubbed a hand over his eyes, “Well, I need to feed.”

“Have you told Joon yet?”

“Texted him on the way here, don’t want him to freak out unnecessarily.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Luhan fell onto his couch as Kyungsoo straightened up, dumping his bag in the corner. “So what’re you gonna do?”

Kyungsoo put his facemask back on. “I’ll head out in the evening. Anyways, what are _you_ going to do?”

“About what?”

“Luhan.” Kyungsoo sat down next to him, hunching forward so his elbows were propped against his knees. “You can bullshit Joon, Yi Fan and Min just fine. You can lie to Baekhyun and Yeol when they ask you. But you and I both know that avoiding something won’t do shit.”

Luhan had gone still on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Kyungsoo let him stew, neither of them moving for what seemed like an eternity. With a huff, Luhan broke the spell.

“Something like me – like us – shouldn’t even try for a decent relationship. Not with a human.”

“Then why are you staying?”

“Because… fuck.” Luhan groaned. “No Soo, you can’t make me say it.”

“If you want him, hurry up and get him.”

“Since when the fuck did you become a relationship expert?”

“Since when the fuck did you become a mopey bitch?”

“… I’ll work on it.”

\---

When Tao put down the phone – ‘put’ was a very peaceful way to put it – Jongin edged back towards him. “You good?”

“Yeah.”

Sehun came back with full cups of coffee, parking himself on top of the table and resting his feet on the chair. “Turn your phone off man.”

“I don’t want to get skinned alive.”

“What does he want this time?”

“Nothing new, just telling me to hurry my ass on the rogues in Sosa.” Tao slumped forward, putting is head in his hands. “After tomorrow at least that part of my life would get back to normal.”

Jongin slapped him on the back consolingly, looking for a change in topic, _any_  change of topic. “Hey Sehun how well do you know Kyungsoo?” Shit. Fuck. Anything but _that_ topic. Where did his brain to mouth filter go? Sehun didn’t react, nonchalantly munching on another cookie. 

“Pretty well. I’ve hung out with them for a little over a year now.”

“That’s… a pretty long time.” Jongin and Tao shared a glance, neither of them knowing what the other knew but at the same time, both were completely on the same page. “They’re good people.”

“Are all of them like Kyungsoo?”

Now Sehun stuttered in his movements, setting his cup down. “Like what? Personality-wise they’re all different. Some of them get pretty crazy.”

“Kris was kinda scary though.” Tao sipped at his cup, keeping his voice even. Sehun scoffed,

“Are you kidding me? He’s as soft as a marshmallow. Prod him right and he’ll melt all over you.”

“Are they… nice?”

“Where is this all coming from?” Sehun crossed his arms and wrinkled his nose.

_Because Kyungsoo’s a vampire._

_Because Yi Fan’s a vampire._

“Because Kyungsoo’s in some of my classes.”

“Because I saw Yi – Kris out on the streets yesterday.” Tao had spent a lot of time observing people, was trained for it, and he caught the way Sehun’s eyes snapped up at his little name-stumble.

“Well, like I said.” Sehun folded his lanky legs under him, “They’re all good people. No matter what they say or what you see, just… remember that, I guess.”

Silence seeped into the room, thoughts hanging heavily between the three. Tao and Jongin bit back their questions, if they asked Sehun, there was no going back. It was like an invisible line was drawn around the subject, step over it and you fuck everything up. None of them were quite ready for that yet. Abruptly, Sehun cleared his throat.

“I need to go to class soon so uh…”

“Right!” Tao and Jongin sprang up from their seats, finishing the last of their drinks.

“We’ll try to meet up more often ok?”

“Good luck for tomorrow Tao.”

“I’ll need it.” Tao cracked a laugh.

“Come back to me no matter what yeah?” The two cops paused, grins ready at his comment but dying on their lips when they saw his face. Sehun was serious.

Jongin smacked him on the shoulder, “Why wouldn’t we?”

“It’s nothing.” Sehun waved it away and the moment was gone. He herded his friends to the front door. “You guys gonna come tomorrow?”

“We may, after patrol and Tao’s whole Rogue she-bang.”

“Please call.”

“Why? Are you and Luhan just constantly thirsty for each oth –”

“Alright, get out!” Sehun shoved his two chortling friends out the door with a scowl. “I take it back. Stay off my property you heathens.”

 

 

* * *

 

The sun was setting and all the students were leaving, eager to get home before dark. Jongin wasn’t too worried, his stake was sitting in his bag along with a couple of sunbombs and a knife. He could fit in another half hour of dancing. He lifted his arms again as the music looped on itself, staring at his form in the mirror. He worked harder in here than he did in AVPF – all the stamina and strength he built was driven by his need to dance through full routines non-stop. He liked it like this.

It was almost an hour before he deemed it fit to stop. Sweat shone off his skin, the lights of the dance studio the only source of illumination. The world outside the windows was dark. Jongin stretched out on the floor, easing out the kinks in his legs. Tomorrow, after patrol, he’d come again. Never mind that the instructor barely paid attention to him, or how none of his classmates spoke more than one sentence per day. He loved to dance.

Someone cleared their throat. No one should still be around. Jongin twirled, hand diving into his bag, and blinked.

“Kyungsoo.”

“Good evening… I guess.” The vampire stepped into the practice room, Kyungsoo looked tired, worn down. There were faint pink scars, like patches of irritated skin, sweeping across some of his skin. Burns.

“What are you doing here?”

“It wasn’t exactly planning to come here.”

“Then what were you planning to do?” Jongin crossed his legs on the floor, bag settled against his stomach.

“The feeding rings are open again tonight.”

“… Oh.” What the hell was Jongin supposed to say to that? “So… why aren’t you there?”

“Because I remembered you’re not going to be there anymore.”

Jongin gaped, his mouth trying to catch up to his brain and the only thing that came out of his mouth was an extremely intelligent, “Uh.” Kyungsoo hadn’t moved from his spot by the door. Jongin hugged his bag tighter to his chest, fiddling nervously at the zipper.

“Did you want to feed from me?”

Silence met his question, broken by a frustrated sigh. Kyungsoo carded a hand through his hair, scowling. The talk with Luhan was maybe the most hypocritical he’d been to date, and it’s been a very long time. He stepped into the practice room, locking the door behind him and listening to Jongin’s breath quicken.

“Do you want me to?”

“I don’t… not really. Your venom sent me for a loop.” Jongin let his sight drop onto his knees. “Felt weird.”

“It doesn’t have to be a bite.” Kyungsoo tilted his head, slowly lowering himself onto the floor too. There was some distance between them, filled with caution and the unfamiliar.

“If you don’t feed here, where will you go?”

“The rings are in Mapo.” 

Jongin hesitated, “There are a lot of patrols there.”

“I know.”

The cop looked up in surprise. “Then why will you go?”

“I’m thirsty.” Such a simple answer shouldn’t have sounded so ominous. Jongin breathed in long and deep, closing his eyes briefly as he made his decision.

“You can feed from me.”

“I don’t want to if you’re unwilling.” Kyungsoo’s gaze was cool, staring unwaveringly at Jongin even when he was still preoccupied with his bag.

“I’m fine if you don’t bite me.”

“Are you ok with your arm?” The vampire scooted forward, letting cold fingers sweep up from Jongin’s wrist and leaving goosebumps in his wake, coming to rest at the crease of his elbow.

“Left arm is fine.” Jongin was tense with memories, flush starting from his ears. Kyungsoo mistook the stiffness for something else, drawing back, thumb still lightly stroking the skin of his arm.

“This isn’t something you have to do.”

“I want to.”

Kyungsoo gave him a skeptical look and Jongin rolled his eyes. The human turned to hold onto Kyungsoo, shuffling backwards so his back hit the cool surface of the mirror, and positioned the vampire between his legs. He didn’t look behind him to check if his blush was obvious or not, he could feel it bloom on his cheeks. The thumb on his arm stopped, and Jongin watched as the fingernails elongated, sharpening into wicked tips. A jolt of nervousness shot down Jongin’s spine. Kyungsoo let his claws retract.

“This is going to hurt a lot more than a bite.”

“That’s fine.”

“It’ll heal slower too.”

“It’s Autumn. Long sleeves won’t be suspicious.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know…” Jongin was arrested by the sight of two red eyes, strangely not feeling a single speck of fear. “I don’t want you to get caught.” _Captured vampires would have wished they’d died._ “Why were you thinking of me?”

“I don’t know either.” Kyungsoo laughed, humourless, his claws still resting against Jongin’s fragile skin. It would be so easy to make him bleed, to rip him apart. “I can’t stop coming back to you for some reason.”

_If you want him, hurry up and get him._

“Well, you can have me.” The line slipped out between Jongin’s lips before he could help it. He bit on his tongue as Kyungsoo froze. Before the situation could get too awkward, Jongin shifted, pressing against Kyungsoo’s claws. “Do it.”

Kyungsoo didn’t give any warning, all Jongin felt was white hot pain slicing into his skin. He gasped, curling forward to grip Kyungsoo’s shoulder. The vampire didn’t flinch, holding Jongin’s arm still as blood leaked out of the gash he made, the colour of it reflected in his eyes. His lips felt colder than Jongin remembered, the flesh icy against hot blood. The pain spiked again, accompanied by an unpleasant pinching sensation, and Jongin realized Kyungsoo was sucking on the wound, drawing out his blood. He grit his teeth, he had made the decision and he’d be damned if he didn’t go through with it.

Later, Kyungsoo would find that the seams of his sleeve had ripped in Jongin’s grasp, but all the vampire could focus on now was the human’s sweet scent and his _taste_. It was the sweetest thing that ever graced his tongue. He forgot himself for a moment, let his tongue dig into the cut, but Jongin’s pained grunt tugged him back, a film of reason over his thirst. Kyungsoo lapped at the wound apologetically. Jongin went lax, head thunking back against the mirror, wincing and panting like he’d run a mile. That fucking _hurt_.

 

They shifted into a more comfortable position, sitting side by side. Jongin had stopped bleeding, the cut still stung and his flesh gaped open. He had suffered much worse.

“Uh. Will I need stitches?”

Kyungsoo motioned for Jongin to let him see, his touch gentle. “Do you trust me?”  
“I just let you feed from me. Yes I trust you.”

“The thing about our venom, it stops your bleeding, knits together broken flesh.” His finger was lighter than a feather, but Jongin still hissed. “It’s also a pretty good painkiller.” Kyungsoo leaned down and – before Jongin could protest – scraped a fang into the cut. Jongin jerked, but the action was more out of surprise than pain. The same pleasurable buzz hummed into Jongin’s veins, not as intense as the first time, but enough to chase away the ache.

“Hey –!”

“I didn’t really bite you, so the effects will fade before it can really heal over.”

“Is that why bite marks stop bleeding so fast but take ages to fade off?”

“Basically.”

They sat awkwardly for a minute, then Jongin got onto woozy feet to fish the dance studio’s keys out of his bag. “Unlock – I mean I gotta go lock this place up.” Kyungsoo sighed, plucking the keys from his grasp and flitting out of the room. Suddenly, all the lights were turned off. Jongin yelped, groping blindly for his way out, until cool hands settled around his shoulders and steered him gently. It wasn’t so difficult to let Kyungsoo control him, let him guide his way. Jongin could get used to this. When they were finally standing under the starry night sky, Jongin blurted.

“Doyouwanagosometimeplace?”

“What?”

Jongin flushed, forcing himself to enunciate his sentences. If he wanted this, he had to reach out and take it no matter how terrible the consequences may be. He’s only human after all and this was the only life he’d know.

“Do you want to hang out some time?” Was that a smile on Kyungsoo’s lips? 

“When?”

“Uh… tomorrow? I’ve got patrol in the morning and I’m probably going to see Sehun in the evening so afternoon’s free?”

Kyungsoo smirked, “Alright then. Where would you like to go?” He wasn’t prepared for Jongin’s answer.

“It doesn’t really matter. Anywhere is fine with you.”

\---

Jongdae groaned as he found himself once again staring up at the ceiling of the training room. He took Minseok’s offered hand, grumbling at how his captain had barely broken a sweat, and resumed his stance. It was almost eight at night, but body clocks just don’t work well with their job and he was wide awake and kicking. Literally. They shuffled around each other, neither moving an inch forward. Minseok kicked out at his knee. He shuffled back, retaliating with a punch that Minseok blocked. They ducked and weaved, blocking and dodging. Minseok aimed at his ribs. Jongdae brought his hands down in defense. It was a feint. Fuck. Jongdae found himself with an arm wrapped around his throat, getting flipped to the floor once more.

“Tired, Dae?”

“Shut up.” Jongdae huffed, letting Minseok yank him back onto his feet. “I think I’m done for tonight though captain.” Minseok laughed, swatting Jongdae on the shoulder, not caring how sticky and gross the human was.

“Great. Now go to sleep. We’ve got patrol tomorrow morning.”

“Naw. It’s in like six hours.” Jongdae grinned impishly, swiping his hair off his forehead. The sweat made his sleeveless shirt cling to his body in a way that Minseok found incredibly distracting. Jongdae’s scent was definitely not helping. He hadn’t felt this riled up since he was maybe a century old, and that was so long ago, Korea wasn’t even called Korea.

“Sleep Dae.”

“Alright captain. Let me have a shower first.”

“I’ll be heading back home now. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait – are you doing anything tomorrow?”

Minseok paused, about to run down the stairs. “Saturday? Nothing in particular.”

“You free for breakfast or something after patrol?”

 _Not a good idea Minseok. Not a good idea –_ “Yeah sure.” _Let me have this one. Just this once._

\---

Tao was still up when Jongin returned to his room.

“Tao. Sleep. You have an insane job tomorrow.”

“I wish I could go on patrol with you guys.” Tao’s forlorn sigh was followed by a soft voice outside their room.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” Tao called and Yixing slipped into the room, squinting to adjust his eyes to the dim light of their lamps instead of the bright overhead fluorescents. “What’s up Xing?”

“I need to speak to the two of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alriiiiight SO saving Chanyeol probs won't happen for another 2 chapters. Make way for the Taoris. Yes. Sorry. Please keep reading. I like Jongdae's character a lot idk. ALSO updates will once again form a type of weekly update format but I'm not sure which day yet I'll get back to you :P  
> 15/11/2017 Update: I'm reverting to normal Friday update schedule  
> Comments! Kudos! Bookmark? <\-- Not rlly sure what that's supposed to do


	9. Red Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I’ve added murder mystery and psychopath killer to the tags  
> \- Sorry. Still a noob at tagging. Didn’t know if I had to tag or not but eh, I thought ‘graphic depictions of violence’ was enough…  
> \- BACK TO FRIDAYS SCHEDULES yay

Shrill blaring startled Jongin from sleep, stiff fingers fumbling for the source of sound. He threw the alarm clock before he could stop himself. After everything Yixing talked about last night, after the hours he spent tossing and turning in bed, listening to Tao do the same, he had forgotten Tao wasn’t supposed to be waking up for 2am patrol today. But it was too late, the alarm clock was making its customary trajectory through the air to thunk into – empty sheets. Jongin blinked groggily, staring blankly for a few seconds before registering Tao was not in bed like he was supposed to be. The light to their bathroom was on.

He found Tao at the sink, already dressed, deep shadows under his eyes and looking like the walking dead.

“Tao –”

“Can’t sleep.”

Jongin just nodded, going to splash water on his face as Tao walked out. When Jongin was slightly more awake, Tao was jittery on the bed, nervously strapping on a stake. His gun already rested in its holster by his waist. Wordlessly, they fall into the familiar task of helping each other double check their equipment. At 1:50, they stopped and turned towards the door, smiling when Minseok’s knock came right on time:

“Five minutes!”

Jongin and Tao rolled their eyes, giving each other tight grins as they pulled on their shoes and jackets. All black, as per unspoken custom. When they were ready, Tao opened the door and they hit the world outside their room at a run. 

They managed to evade Jongdae’s feet this time – and for a moment everything seemed normal, laughing and joking like any other day – then they reached the bottom of the stairs and Yixing was there with the cups of coffee and muffins. Jongin and Tao sobered instantly, but Jongdae breezed by without another glance, stealing a muffin off the medic. Yixing frowned, suppressing a yawn.

“Tao, how much sleep did you get?”

“Enough.” Tao caught Yixing’s yawn, unsuccessfully trying to swallow it down. “Did you expect me to sleep? After what you told us…”

“I shouldn’t have told you –”

“No, Xing look – we’re glad you told us.” Jongin patted the medic on the arm, catching one of the muffins as they fell. “We’re just… going to have to talk to Sehun.”

“Why are you guys so slow today?” Jongdae’s chirpy voice interrupted the three and they jolted guiltily.

“Not all of us are as eager to go skipping around the city at 2am in the fucking morning –”

“Who asked you to get up at the same time?” On the last step to the vehicle bay, Jongdae aimed a playful kick to Tao’s shin, pulling short when Tao didn’t look like he was going to try and dodge it. “You’ll be out killing a whole nest of leeches today, you need your beauty sleep.”

Tao scowled, hoping the expression hid the anxious beat of his heart. God, if Jongdae knew who he was tag-teaming with to take out the rogues…

“We leave in one – Tao what are you doing awake?” Minseok had been leaning against their patrol car, pushing off to peer up at Tao’s face with wide eyes. “You need to sleep.”

“I’ll sleep after I see you guys off.” Tao said, ignoring the skeptical look at Minseok gave his gear. Tao was not going back to sleep.

“Good luck today, we’ll see you in the afternoon.”

“Thanks captain, I’ll need it.”

 

Tao watched sadly as the car pulled out of headquarters, imagining the empty spot between Jongdae and Jongin in the backseat. He left as soon as it disappeared from view, rubbing his arms up and down to ward off the slight chill, and started to pack his gear. 

He didn’t know where Yi Fan would find the nest, but they were all pretty much the same: most likely underground, small opening, dark. He packed everything he could think of, stacking them neatly in a small backpack. Nets, knives, he even took some of Ziwei’s silver powder, trying not to think of what she could possibly use it for. Tao checked his watch, 3am. Would Yi Fan be there already? There really wasn’t any use waiting longer, other than to slowly chip at his nerves, so Tao pulled on his helmet and swung a leg over his bike. He’ll take the long way to Sosa.

\---

Yi Fan did not sleep. And neither did Baekyun. The two vampires ended up sitting side by side, silently keeping each other company as the night creeped by. Sometime during their quiet watch, night turned into early morning and Yi Fan started to fidget, breaking the stony stillness.

“Yi Fan, stop that.”

“Can’t.”

“Well, it’s already 3 – an ungodly hour – and you should go get your new boyfriend.”

“He’s not –”

“Kidding.”

“He’s human.” Yi Fan glared down at Baekhyun, “He should still be asleep.”

“Minseok said they had 2am patrol today right? I bet he’s awake.” Baekhyun winked at him. “If he goes apeshit cop on you I promise to bury your dead body.”

“Fuck you.”

“What are you guys doing?” Joonmyun’s tired voice turned their heads towards the doorway. The vampire stood, sleepily carding fingers through his hair and yawning. “You should have gotten some sleep Yi Fan.”

Yi Fan grunted. “I think I’ll be leaving now.”

“Good luck.” The way Joonmyun said it, Yi Fan couldn’t be sure if he was talking about the rogues or Tao. Probably both.

\---

The streets were cold and dead. If people had gone out to party and get drunk, they were passed out by now, or left dead outside on the road with two holes punched into their necks. Tao parked his bike outside the club Yi Fan dragged him to the last time, ignoring the few people stumbling around outside. Then he walked down a random street, without a particular direction in mind, secure in his belief that he wouldn’t be alone for long. 

Tao took the first corner and there he was, as still as the streets around him. Yi Fan had a facemask settled over his face, but there was no way Tao could have mistaken him for anyone else. He couldn’t help the relieved grin that split his face.

“You really came.”

“I am a man of my word.” Yi Fan’s eyes curved slightly and Tao could tell that he was smiling. “Well, more like a vampire of my word.”

 

* * *

 

 

The sun rose later the further the Earth tilted towards winter and by the time its rays brushed over Tao’s cheeks he was restless and jumpy. Yi Fan made a small noise of disgust next to him, squinting irritably at the light. The rogues should have retreated into their nest by now, and the unlikely cop/vampire duo was waiting for them to fall asleep.

“Want to run through the plan one more time?”

“I swear I’ll throw up on you.”

Yi Fan laughed at Tao’s clipped retort, and with a start, Tao realized the vampire was just as nervous as he was. Maybe even more. Yi Fan’s eyes had been glittering red for most of their planning and scouting, and it left Tao’s nerves in shreds. He didn’t really think of it the other way until now – how would a vampire feel with a cop protecting their back? He assumed it would be pretty similar to how a cop would feel to jump off a cliff and trust a leech to catch them. Without biting them. 

They stayed until civilians started to dot the streets, heading for an early morning to work, then they turned and walked briskly, heading for the textile factories. Tao stood for a moment, surveying the building in front of him as if he hadn’t spent the last five hours studying every facet of the structure. His father would be delighted if this mission was a success. If it was a failure… Tao wouldn’t be alive to worry about what the director will do. A hesitant nudge to his elbow broke Tao from his reverie.

“I need you awake before we storm that nest you cop.”

“Leech.”

“Sucker.”

“Asshole.”

“That was uncalled for.”

“Are we going to kill some rogues or not?”

“You first.” Yi Fan tugged his hoodie back over his head, facemask in place, and gestured for Tao to lead.

 

The textile factory was an explosion of liveliness, threads and fabrics dancing through machines and under the hands of skillful workers. Tao watched as Yi Fan crossed the threshold, equal parts relieved he could pass and irritated at how lax these industrial places were about the state of their defenses. Someone approached them, probably to try and kick them out, but a flash of Tao’s ID left them free. A quick talk with the manager landed them on the stairs down to the basement, past towers of folded cloth and giant spools of every thread imaginable. Everyone above should be evacuated in under five minutes. Tao’s gaze raked over the far corner, where Yi Fan said the nest was hidden. They couldn’t go in here when the sun was down, the rogues would have caught them immediately, so Tao had to trust in Yi Fan’s words. He didn’t want to think about how easy that was to do. 

“Ready?” Tao pulled out his gun.

“Let’s get this show on the road.” Yi Fan took a couple of steps back, spreading his arms wide. “Hit me like you mean it.”

“You won’t die will you?” Above the mask, Tao could see Yi Fan’s eyes roll in exasperation.

“Just don’t nail me in the heart.”

“You asked for it.” And with that, Tao aimed at Yi Fan’s chest and fired.

It was frightening to watch the vampire side of Yi Fan claw to the surface, hissing and snarling. The shot was clean, punching into his shoulder. Blood gouted over the vampire’s fingers, pressed tightly to the wound, and stained his shirt as red as his eyes. Above them, Tao was faintly aware of alarmed shouting as the textile workers heard the shot. For the first time in their lives, this was not a drill.

 

Yi Fan fled, pulling down shelves and cupboards to block Tao’s way. Make lots of noise. If the rogues underground weren’t awake yet then they’d have to be deaf. Just for some extra credibility, Tao pulled the trigger again, purposefully missing this time so Yi Fan had time to bolt. His stake appeared in his other hand as he chased his ‘target’ down, ending up in the far corner. Time to up the game. Yi Fan must have thought the same because instead of running, he turned and pounced. 

 _Trust him trust him trust him._ Tao gritted his teeth and fought the urge to throw Yi Fan off as they collided, rolling on the floor. Yi Fan’s blood was cold. The rogues wouldn’t come out if they thought the cop had won. They’d come out when Tao was defeated. But he couldn’t go down without a ‘fight’ and he’d already resigned himself to the scrapes and bruises that were sure to come. 

Tao forced the stake between them, drove upwards half-heartedly, and Yi Fan flitted to the side, reversing his grip on the cop’s shoulder and throwing him into a rack of cloth. He landed right where Yi Fan said the opening to the nest was. His shoulder throbbed as he rolled to his feet, his human eyes barely catching Yi Fan’s figure before claws raked over his cheek. Shallow cuts. _Trust him._ Didn’t hurt that bad, but Tao screamed anyways, as loudly as he could.

 

There was a cold grip around his throat and the world was flipped sideways. The breath wooshed out of Tao’s lungs as he slammed into the floor. He’d kept a firm grip on his gun, but now he let it go, throwing it slightly so the clatter of metal was clearer. Yi Fan’s mouth brushed the shell of his ear.

“Stay down.”

He felt Yi Fan's grip tighten for a heartbeat, like a reassuring squeeze, then loosened again. There was a heavy scraping sound. 

He didn’t turn to look, even when a new voice cut through the air.

“My, my… Look what just rolled onto our doorstep.”

Yi Fan tensed, head snapping up. Tao followed the movement as best as he could, the back of his head scraping across the floor. One, two, three… Six of them Tao could see. Where was the – there it was. The seventh was just dragging itself out of the nest, eyes red and focused on the scene. Tao hoped it looked real enough to fool them. Come closer. Just a little closer. He recognized the green-haired one from the night before. He guessed it was their leader, it was the one talking.

“When you’re done, may we have him?”

Yi Fan hissed softly, defensively. “This one is mine.” His eyes flickered over the whole coven doubtfully. “And I don’t think there’ll be enough left to go around.”

“We don’t want his blood.” Greenhair stepped forward slightly, staring at Tao. “This one’s a cop. We want his corpse.”

Tao felt sick. Every nerve in his body screamed at him to fight back, to stab Yi Fan straight through the heart, but he bit it down.

Yi Fan looked him in the eyes. _Don’t look at their eyes._ Tao glared back. “Alright.” _Trust him._ Yi Fan won’t kill him. Yi Fan _won’t._ Tao started to writhe again – might as well put on one hell of a show – and plunged a hand into his pockets. Yi Fan made it there first, plucking the sunbomb from his grasp and dangling it tauntingly out of reach. The rogues drew closer, eager for spilt blood. Tao felt Yi Fan’s nails sharpen, felt them dig into his throat. He stopped moving. One of the females laughed. Yi Fan held Tao’s gaze, blinked once deliberately. Tao snapped his eyes shut. No sooner had his sight closed off, he heard a click and the bomb blazed to life.

\---

Jongin fiddled on his feet, mind filled in equal halves on both Tao and the impending meeting with Kyungsoo. His constant worry had him arriving way too early and there was no sign of the vampire around the dance studio. He scratched distractedly at the bandage through his sleeve, felt it sting in reminder of Kyungsoo’s presence. He checked his watch. 9:45. Fifteen more minutes come _on._

“Stop messing with the cut.”

Jongin whirled around, fingers jumping guiltily away from the bandage. “Hi.”

“Were you waiting long?” Kyungsoo was wearing black - it seemed to be a custom of his - and he was taking off his cap, ruffling up flattened hair.

“Not really.” Only like, half an hour. They stood awkwardly, large amounts uncertain with residues of wariness. After all, a cop was a cop and a vampire was a vampire. Kyungsoo tilted his head to the right.

“I have a place in mind.” Kyungsoo’s lips twitched, forming a ghost of his signature heart-shaped smile. “Unless you’re thinking of bailing out on me you sucker cop.”

Jongin scoffed, something he did all the time around Sehun and the rest of his squad. The motion was relaxing, stiffness bleeding out of his stance.

“As long as you don’t ditch me. Leech.”

\---

“Minseok. Enough.”

“Last one, I promise.” Minseok smiled apologetically at Jongdae. The human had his arms crossed, grumpily watching Minseok file away the last of their patrol report.

“You need to eat, you’re so pale.” Jongdae waited until Minseok put his pen down, then looped his arms under Minseok’s shoulders and tried to drag him off. Minseok flopped, a dead-weight.

“I’m healthy, I promise.”

“And you need some sunlight. Get a tan, captain.”

“I really don’t think that’s good for me.” Minseok squirmed onto his feet, detaching himself, and sighed. Jongdae had managed to drag him all the way out of the office and looked about ready to shove him down the stairs.

“You’re a workaholic clean freak.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“At least Xing seems to be capable of passing out. You just keep going.”

“At least one member of our squad needs to keep everything together.”

“Hey! We can keep things alive by ourselves.”

“There was that one night –”

“Shhhh we do not speak of that night.” Jongdae took the stairs down two at a time, running from Minseok’s victorious smirk. “Actually…” He stopped, waiting for Minseok to catch up. “Where do you go on those nights? The nights you take leave?”

Minseok’s expression faltered for a heartbeat, then the joking was back again. “I go home to sleep.”

“Bullshit – Hey!” Jongdae raced down after Minseok, “Come on, captain.”

\---

Black spots danced across his vision and shrieks clawed into his ears. Tao didn’t waste any time. Yi Fan was no longer on him, the vampire was crouched with one hand pressed against his eyes and burns peeling over his skin. Tao ripped out his nets, some of the silver links tangling in his haste. The scent of silver must have gotten stronger because the blinded rogues screeched, one of them trying to lunge at him but missed by a metre. He threw a net over that one first.

_When I trigger the bomb, I’m going to be useless for a minute or so. The rogues will take longer. They’re less prepared, so they’ll have less time to block._

_Seven is a bit difficult to stake in one minute._

_You’ll have to pin them down somehow._

_Nets will work. Just stay out of the way or I’ll accidentally net you too._

Tao didn’t need to have spectacular aim, he just needed to get some part of a vampire caught in the silver and their blind writhing will do the rest. He tacked down four in quick succession. Picked his gun up again. Then the minute was down and the rogues were starting to get their sight back. His stake was still in hand. One of the rogues had recovered an eye, the other still seared shut, and made a clumsy leap for him. Tao sidestepped smartly, putting a bullet through her hip. The next shot ripped through her heart. In his peripheral, Yi Fan tussled with another, leaving it limp on the floor. Silver glittered in Yi Fan’s hand. A stake? Had he kept it with him all the way back from Guro? Yi Fan was beside him in a blink, eyeing Greenhair who was just starting to get to his feet.

“I’ll take care of the wannabe kpop star over there, you get the rest of them.”

Tao nodded and they parted. The cop concentrated on aiming, pulling the trigger, reloading; the leeches tangled in the nets were easy kills. He didn’t bother to check behind him. Yi Fan would keep the last one off him, Tao trusted him too. When the last one collapsed, motionless, Tao spun around, searching. His heart stopped. He had forgotten Yi Fan got fucking _shot_ ; the vampire must have been hiding the pain well, must have been gritting down on his screams. Greenhair had him by the throat, Yi Fan struggling underneath him. As Tao watched, the rogue dug a thumb into Yi Fan's bullet wound, fresh blood welling up and spilling. Distracted, Yi Fan couldn't stop his opponent from leaning down and ripping into his throat with its fangs. 

Tao jolted into movement, raising his gun with cool accuracy. The rogue didn't seem to notice him. He shot once. Twice. It howled, releasing Yi Fan and stumbling backwards. The third shot took it down. The fourth shot killed it. Maybe the fifth and sixth were useless, but Tao's heart still thundered with the spike of terror he felt at the image of its fangs buried under Yi Fan's chin. 

\---

“Is it difficult?”

“To what?”

“I dunno, live? Is it difficult to live?”

Kyungsoo laughed incredulously, it was a nice sound, the velvet of his voice going a couple of shades lighter. “I’m dead.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Jongin pouted, picking cherry tomatoes out of his pasta and piling them on the side of his plate. They’d ended up in one of the Italian food joints, too late for the breakfast crowd and too early for the lunch rush. Kyungsoo sipped at his drink, staring off to the side in the way Jongin knew to be his ‘wait a second I’m thinking’ face.

“It’s… actually quite easy.”

“What about the whole reflection thing?”

“Easy when you don’t look at mirrors too much.” Kyungsoo popped a tomato into his mouth. The vampire hadn’t ordered any food for himself. “But there _are_ ways we can solve it. Back when we were living in China –”

“You guys were in _China?_ ”

“Yeah – anyways, the vampire society in China is a lot more… cohesive? There are more rules there, we’re more civilized and banded together. There were a group of vampires, kind of the equivalent of a group of Einsteins, who were trying to make some sort of cream we could use so the light reflects properly off us and gets us reflections.”

“That sounds really weird.”

“They’re still test-running it.”

Jongin twirled his pasta around, passing a few more tomatoes to Kyungsoo. “Why did you come to Korea then? The cops are way more active over here, and there are a lot more rules.”

Bigger country? Less control. That’s why vampires were basically non-existent in countries like Singapore, or in small cities. Also why they’re packed to bursting with overpopulation.

“We’d been living there too long, it was time to move or we’d get caught.”

“How old are you then?”

“Three hundred and eighty two.”

Jongin chewed on his food as nonchalantly as he could, openly staring now. “Uh. That’s… really old.”

“I’m the youngest in my coven. The oldest is –” _Minseok._ “- hitting a thousand in the next decade or so.”

All nonchalance gone, Jongin’s jaw dropped at the thought. “Holy shit.”

“Yup.” They fall silent, not uncomfortable, but not easy. There were too many things between them. Jongin tried again, “And scent?”

“What about it?”

“Isn’t it distracting? To be so sensitive to everything?”

Kyungsoo tapped the glass of his drink, “We block it out most of them time. Like putting blanket over a fire. For example, I could concentrate and tell you that I can still smell silver on you, that your juice is watered down and the cook tossing the salad in the kitchen is complaining about being lonesome.”

Jongin sipped at his drink suspiciously, “Can’t taste anything different.”

“They added some sugar.”

“Thanks. You just ruined this place for me.”

Kyungsoo’s face split into a smile as he laughed again, and this time, Jongin joined him.

\---

Tao watched with a kind of grossed-out fascination as Yi Fan’s neck healed over, the messy holes knitting back together first into red, scarred ridges, then fading back into normal skin.

“You good?”

Yi Fan groaned, still not getting up from the floor.

“I need. To call. The cleanup. Crew.” Tao spoke between his breaths. “We need to get you out of here. Before I call them in.”

With a dry cough, Yi Fan propped himself up on lanky arms and – to Tao’s horror – shoved clawed fingers into his bullet wound. Shocked, Tao watched as the silver piece of metal clinked out onto the floor.

“Shit.”

“Ow.”

“Is that how you guys deal with that all the time?”

“Yeah.” Yi Fan got to his feet, face creased in pain. “Oh god.”

“You alright?”

“You shot me, I feel like shit.” To Tao’s alarm, Yi Fan’s reply induced a round of coughing that brought blood trickling down his chin. Yi Fan wiped it off the back of his hand. “You try getting shot Mr Cop.”

“No thanks.”

It took Tao a moment to feel how close they were, and by the time his unease bubbled to the surface, Yi Fan’s fingers were cupping his chin and tilting his face to the side. Tao let him.

“Does it hurt?”

“What?”

“Your cheek.” Oh yeah. Tao forgot about that. Now that he was reminded about it… the sting was all he could think about.

“Fuck.”

Yi Fan pulled away as Tao winced, and licked his fingers clean. Tao flinched.

“I thought you guys needed to ask before you did that?”

“Hm?” Realization dawned on Yi Fan’s eyes, followed by confusion. “The consent doesn’t have to be verbal.”

“What?”

“As long as you’re willing, we can take.”

Tao froze, hand pressed against his clawed cheek. “Can I… Can I take it back?” _Trust him._ Uh oh.

“You’d have to mean it.”

“You’re not going to bite me are you?”

Yi Fan chuckled, turning around. “Not unless you ask for it. You didn’t leave any of them alive?”

“No.” Tao surveyed the mess, some bodies sizzling with the effects of silver. “Captivity is worse than death, even these guys don’t deserve it.” He stopped when he realized Yi Fan wasn’t with him anymore. The vampire hung back, staring openly, like he had something he wanted to say crawling up his throat. In the end, Yi Fan merely shrugged. “Go call your clean up crew or whatever. I’ll be in Jangmi.”

“Hey – !” But he was gone.

\---

Jongdae’s eyes were on the autumn leaves, the park was painted red and gold with the season. Minseok’s eyes were on Jongdae, the human’s skin pale from lack of sunlight.

_So maybe…?_

_Yes, maybe._

No. There was no _maybe_. It was a good, solid NO. Distracted, Minseok didn’t catch the way Jongdae’s eyes skipped over him, studied him with an almost avid interest.

“Hey, captain…”

Minseok made a small noise of curiosity, refocusing on Jongdae’s face.

“Are there any records on vampires that aren’t about killing them?”

Minseok’s train of thought derailed for a second before he could switch the tracks. “Uh, no? Not in HQ anyways. Why?”

“I didn’t know they could cry.” Jongdae ceased walking, merely watching the people around them go about their business. He’s caught on a group of kids, messing around on the grass, getting leaves netted into their hair. That could have been him a decade ago. If his parents were still alive. “Please don’t give me Xing’s let’s-be-nice-to-leeches speech because I hear enough of it from him.”

“You saw one cry?” Minseok’s heart dropped.

“Yeah. The one Jongin and I got. Tears were blood.”

What could Minseok say to that? The vampire held his silence, reminding himself to breathe, to blink, to be human. It was nearing noon now and the sun gleamed more harshly than it did before. Somewhere under the same sun (more specifically: Sosa), Yi Fan would be finishing up with Tao. Hopefully he’d see Yi Fan tonight.

“Tao will be back soon.”

“He’ll probably head to Mapo.” Jongdae shifted, stretching his arms over his head. “I hope he won’t come back a mess.”

“Will you be joining him and Jongin tomorrow?”

“Are you chasing me out of HQ, captain?” Jongdae lifted an eyebrow.

“Yes. Be free. Get some sunlight.”

“Like _I’m_ the one needing it. You’re paler than I am.”

“I’ll meet up with you for lunch tomorrow if you stay out of HQ in the morning.”

“Deal.”

 

* * *

 

 

“You lucky _bastard_.”

“Hello.” Tao leaned around Yixing to watch the rest of his squad burst into the hospital room.

“We were expecting you back in like five pieces.”

“Thanks, Jongdae, for your complete and utter faith in me – ow!” Tao hissed as Yixing finished pressing gauze to his cheek, the numbness from whatever painkillers the medic had given him not enough to dull the ache. “I can still fight after this can’t I?”

Yixing sighed, “The wounds on your back and arms aren’t properly healed over yet, I wouldn’t recommend it but you never listen to me anyways.”

Tao had already jumped to his feet, sharing grins with Jongin. “Are we good to go to Sehun’s?”

“I think he’s still working.”

“Great, we can pick him up.”

“Ah – Tao!” Minseok’s voice yanked them to a stop before they could disappear out the door. “Remember your report, it’s not going to help if you procrastinate.”

Tao made a face, “I’ll write it up later captain.”

Jongdae followed the two youngest members of their squad out, hoping to get back to HQ and catch as many hours of sleep as he could get, leaving Yixing and Minseok alone. The medic sat down on Tao’s vacated seat, picking absent-mindedly at his sleeves. With a tone completely at odds with his expression, Yixing spoke to Minseok.

“You have to tell them before it’s too late.”

“After we get Chanyeol, I’ll tell them.” Minseok promised, _I’ll leave. And I won’t tell Jongdae._

\---

Jongin and Tao swept eagerly out of the hospital, Tao refusing to use the elevator despite how tired he was, and walked, footsteps synced. Jongin stopped when Tao’s footsteps went silent. Something had caught Tao’s eye. A lot of hospitals had flower stalls on the same street – a very effective marketing ploy – and the displays had every colour of the rainbow arranged in bursts of vibrancy. What so distracted Tao was a small corner of plainness in the confusion of colour. White roses.

“Uh, Jongin?”

“Yeah?”

“You go ahead first, I want to do something.”

Jongin gave him a confused look, maybe a trifle hurt. Tao and Jongin told each other everything, but more recently it felt like they weren’t anymore. Jongin shrugged, “Alright, don’t be too long ok?”

“Sure.” Tao waited until Jongin walked off, turned down into another street, before going back to the roses. He waved at the old lady manning the stall.

“How much is one of these?”

 

Tao found Yi Fan exactly where the vampire said he would be. Yi Fan stood in front of the grave, as still as the blank stone in front of him. He didn’t turn to look when the crunch of gravel underfoot signaled Tao’s approach.

“Hey.”

“I’m surprised you came.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“We’re done, aren’t we?” Only now did Yi Fan’s gaze touch Tao, emotionless and unreadable. “We got our rogues, you’ve got your job and I’ve got my own shit to deal with.”

Tao pursed his lips. He didn’t _feel_ done, everything felt open, like a thread with frayed ends that ended in broken bits of fluff. They weren’t done yet. Carefully, Tao brought the rose he had by his side to rest on the grave.

“I don’t want to be done with you.” He kept his eyes on the rose, concentrating on the way it’s white petals shivered in the wind. “I want to know you.”

“My favourite colour is green.” His answer was so abrupt, so childish, like something two nervous teens would share on their first date, that Tao couldn’t help his smile.

“That’s one way to start.”

“What’s yours?”

“Blue.”

They lapsed into silence, comfortable but not sure what to say next. Tao coughed. “This is so surreal. I’m standing in front of my dead ancestors, with a vampire, on a really messed up version of a first date.”

“Well, at least I know you can’t complain it wasn’t exciting.”

Tao laughed, only managing one before wincing, feeling the stitches pull painfully in his cheek. Yi Fan’s fingers were there first, cold even through the gauze, concern etched into his face.

“I shouldn’t have –”

“It was unavoidable.” Tao laid his hand over Yi Fan’s, intending to pull it off, but forgetting his purpose once it got in place. Like this, they were staring straight at each other, through the windows to their souls. “I’m sorry.”

“What on earth do you have to be sorry for?” This time Yi Fan did turn to look, noting how Tao’s gaze flicked down for a second to the blank tombstone.

“For what my family did to you.”

“Those are things that happened in the past, in a life that has long expired.” Yi Fan said. “And it will stay in the past.”

“I’m sorry for looking like her, for bringing back all the shit you went through.” They were close enough that when Tao breathed in, he was taking in their mingled breaths. “I’m sorry for what I believed before I met you, I’m sorry for what you have to do to live, I’m sorry –”

Yi Fan hushed him, leaning down to press their foreheads together, calming. “You don’t have to be sorry for those things.”

“But I do. If I’m not, then who will be?” Tao’s voice was a whisper. “I’m sorry –” His lips were stilled by a kiss. The touch burned Tao like ice, white-hot and cold at the same time. He melted into Yi Fan’s coldness, a whimper muffled between them. Tao didn’t yield to the nip of blunt teeth at his lips, stubbornly pressing them together and biting back. With a low growl, Yi Fan’s hand left his face and found themselves a place at his waist, dragging them together as Tao clung onto his neck. A pinch to his side had Tao gasping, mouth parting, and Yi Fan’s tongue was licking past his teeth, rubbing against the roof. Tao gave up, let him take. Shouldn’t that be fair? For someone who had lost so much and enjoyed so little, shouldn’t Tao give everything he had? Especially when he wanted to give. They parted, Tao disgruntled by how breathless he was whilst Yi Fan stayed unruffled, handsome and statuesque.

“I’m sorry too.”

Tao cocked his head curiously. “What for?”

Yi Fan’s fingers stroked idly through his hair. “For what I want from you.” The pair was still for a moment, letting it wash over them, this strange sense of peace.

Tao shifted slightly, “Are you thirsty? After losing so much blood?”

“Yes.” Was the simple reply. Yi Fan met his gaze, pupils starting to stain red. “But it’s under control. I said I wouldn’t bite you.”

Tao pursed his lips, contemplating. No going back. He was too far gone anyways. He took Yi Fan’s hand in his, moving it to loop behind him, pressing them together. His movements were shaky, nervous, as he tiptoed to put his neck next to Yi Fan’s mouth, speaking into Yi Fan’s ear.

“I trust you.”

\---

During the day, the bubble tea shop was more populated, peppered with teens and young adults perched on the brightly-coloured seats. Jongin tried not to grin at the way Sehun smiled and talked with the customers. Only he (and Tao) would see the thin patience behind Sehun’s polite demeanor. The fake smile turned into something more genuine when Sehun spotted Jongin, waving cheerfully. His expression dropped when he realized Tao wasn’t there.

“Is Tao ok?”

“He’s coming soon.”

“Well, my shift ends in –” Sehun glanced up at the clock, “- like twenty minutes so we can head back to my place afterwards.”

Jongin grinned mischievously, “Are you sure Luhan’s not expecting you?”

“Do you want me to poison your drink?”

 

The rest of Sehun’s shift passed Tao-less, and the two of them got increasingly worried, exiting the shop when Sehun had ditched his uniform. Jongin was just pulling out his phone when Tao finally appeared, coming to a stop, doubled over in front of them.

“Should’ve listened to Xing and not tried to run.”

“Dude, where the fuck did you go?” Sehun’s face knitted into a scowl.

“Places.”

Jongin held up his hands before the bickering could begin, a little sour at the fact that his raised hands couldn’t even brush the top of their heads. “Alright! Sehun we need to talk about some… stuff.”

“Fair warning, the walls of my apartment are super thin.”

“We’ll manage.”

\---

Yixing sat with his cheek resting on the table of the hospital cafeteria, phone lying innocently next to his face. He was thinking. Hard. In another hour, the bodies in the morgue will be transferred out of his control and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Unless… He chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. Would he come if Yixing called? Pushing himself up and shaking his fingers out of his sleeves, Yixing pulled up his contacts list. 

“Hello?”

“Ah – Good evening Joonmyun.” Yixing sat up straighter, he was expecting a little longer for the vampire to pick up. “I apologize for bothering you at this time…”  
He trailed off at Joonmyun’s warm laugh.

“Don’t worry about it. What’s on your mind?”

“I was wondering if you could come to Mapo hospital?” Yixing asked slowly. “I understand if you do not wish to, it’s after dark already and there have been an increase in patrols –”

“I’ll come.” A short pause. “May I bring someone with me?”

Yixing thought for a second before a cautious reply. “Can your friend handle a corpse?”  
Joonmyun’s own reply was a touch amused. “It’s Baekhyun, I’m sure he can handle it.”

\---

 _Strange…_ Sehun thought as the three of them walked into his apartment. The creep was loitering around outside again, but he hadn’t turn to stare at Sehun, even though Sehun’s neck still prickled uncomfortably when his back was turned. The creep’s green-haired leech buddy wasn’t there today. Sehun shoved it out of his mind, there was a whole pile of problems he had to shred through right now.

“So...” Sehun closed the door behind him, shrugging out of his jacket and hanging it up on the back of a chair. “What did you guys want to talk about?”

Jongin and Tao gave each other a glance, and it was then that Sehun really got a good look at Tao. The cop was pale and clammy, a buzz to his fingers that wasn’t quite trembling and pupils dilated too wide for the afternoon lighting. Telltale signs he’d been bitten. Very recently.

“Last night, Yixing showed us your files.” Jongin’s voice snapped him back to the present, first stirring confusion. It dissolved into horror, making Sehun’s heart roll over in despair. Sehun walked over to his mini kitchen, filled the kettle with water, set it to boil, anything to keep him from facing his friends. His voice was shaky,  
“I guess that changes things.” He gripped a cup so hard he almost snapped the handle clean off, preparing himself for the worst. He was utterly unprepared for Jongin’s tight hug, Tao’s light, playful punch to his arm.

“You’re stupid.”

“It doesn’t change anything.”

“Even if I’m currently fucking one?”

“Well, I knew about that.” Jongin scratched the back of his head sheepishly at the same time Tao swallowed.

“I kind of knew about that too.”

Sehun gaped at them before his jaw snapped shut and he started to laugh. He laughed so hard he had to hold his stomach. Jongin and Tao looked at each other, concerned.

“I think he lost it.”

“Noooo you guys don’t understand how messy this is.” Sehun groaned, trying to get his breath back.

“What?”

“Your Kyungsoo –” Sehun pointed at Jongin, “- and _your_ Yi Fan –” he pointed at Tao, “Are part of the same coven. Along with Luhan.”

\---

“Oh wow, what happened to him?” Baekhyun scrunched his face at the body as Yixing pulled back the sheets.

“Concussion. Severe blood loss. Hypothermia. Asphyxiation is the actual cause of death.” Yixing rattled off his facts, realizing he’d pulled on a pair of rubber gloves without even thinking about it. “Not vampire related.”

“Can I touch it?”

Yixing nodded and Baekhyun gingerly tilted the corpse’s head to the side. Bite marks. Not vampire ones. Normal, human teeth had clamped down so hard the skin of the neck had ripped. Joonmyun stayed further back, frowning.

“Where did they find him?”

“In Guro. Very close to where Tao and Yi Fan met the rogues the first time.”

“And you called us here why?” Baekhyun continued to inspect the body. Its fingernails were cracked and broken, rope burns over the pale skin of its wrists and deep, ugly bruises blooming like unfinished patchwork curled down its ribs. The poor guy had been caught, restrained, that much was obvious. But the _bite marks._

“If you’ve read the news, there’s been a series of incidents, people going missing, that has no ties whatsoever to vampires.” Yixing stood next to Baekhyun, turning a pale, dead arm to show small circular scars. “This one was an ex-feeder, must have been bitten a lot of times, and I would have checked all the other missing persons profiles in AVPF’s databases but it’s all been pulled out.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s because the ‘vampire’ and the ‘normal’ police forces are unrelated, right?” Joonmyun looked to Yixing for confirmation. “So you can’t get any information because it’s being used in their investigations?”

Yixing nodded. “This body will be transferred soon, I won’t be able to access it again, so I was wondering if either of you could pick up on anything I haven’t?”

“Have you checked for venom?”

“Yes. The results were empty.”

Joonmyun and Baekhyun glanced up at each other, confused. “We can smell venom. It’s just not _in_ his blood.” To Yixing’s shock, Baekhyun dug a pinky into the mess of the corpse’s neck and brought it to his mouth. The vampire made a face.

“Oh god that tastes disgusting.”

“Is the law for consent irrelevant if the person is dead?”

Joonmyun shook his head distractedly in answer, pulling the sheets off further so the body was fully bared. He looked up at Yixing, uncertain. “Have you done any of the… normal tests?”

“No. I’ve only run down all the vampiric possibilities – why?” Yixing blinked at the two, obviously missing something he couldn’t put his finger on. The vampires didn’t reply for a moment, trying to get the other to say something first.

Joonmyun sighed, “There’s no scent of our kind, but there’s definitely a separate human that’s been in contact with the body.”

“Less than a day.” Baekhyun added.

“Where?” Yixing studied the corpse, whatever samples he gleaned didn’t match any DNA from his databases. Joonmyun and Baekhyun grimaced, the latter gritting his teeth and taking the plunge.

“The same one who bit him, his scent is _everywhere_. Look, I don’t know how to break it to you, but we can smell sex coming off this guy in waves.”

Yixing paled. No, he had not thought of that.

“Also, you can throw any guess of ‘consensual’ straight into the coffin with the body.” Baekhyun commented, casually prodding at the body. “It looks liked you’ve got an insane rapist with a biting fetish – what?” Joonmyun had smacked him lightly over the head, covering the body with white sheets again. “I’m telling it like it is! And the guy will probably get away with it too, no one’s going to concentrate on a human when there are _vampires_ running around at the same time –”

“Baek.” Joonmyun shot him a warning look, “Enough.”

Baekhyun shrugged, “I’m sure Yixing doesn’t mind.”

“He’s right, I didn’t call you over to lie to me.” Yixing shook his head. He’d seen worse in medical school, in lectures when he was still studying humans, studying human crimes, healing human bodies. He took of his gloves, unused, and tossed them into a bin, feeling utterly exhausted. “The problem now is getting this to the normal police branches.”

\---

“YOU KNEW ABOUT THE WHOLE THING THE WHOLE TIME!?”

“Yup.”

“AND YIXING TOLD US ABOUT YOU BUT DIDN’T TELL US ABOUT THEM!?”

A loud thump resounded from the wall, along with some angry neighbor telling them to ‘shut the fuck up’. Tao scowled at the wall and flipped his finger at it.

“Hey, the wall’s innocent.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“So, why has Yixing been telling us to get out of HQ on Sunday and why aren’t you free?” The coincidence hadn’t slipped past Jongin. Sehun hesitated and his reluctance must have simmered to the surface because Tao was instantly crossing his fingers in promise.

“We won’t tell anyone. Swear it.”

Jongin nodded.

“Jongin, you’re not allowed to freak out ok?” Sehun waited for Jongin to nod again, more curious this time, before he dropped the bomb. “You and Jongdae caught the wrong vampire. He wasn’t a rogue and he’s part of Luhan’s coven – wait! I haven’t finished talking yet!”

Jongin subsided, eyes wide.

“He also has a mate that’s in the coven, and they’re all going to try and get him out of your place tomorrow ok?” Unconsciously, Sehun had dropped to a whisper. “But you guys _have_ to stay out of there. Also, ignore any distress calls. They’re going to be wreaking havoc around the city to try and draw your crazy cousin out.”

Silence. Then, surprisingly calm, Tao held up his fingers, counting off what he knew.

“Alright. So. Six vampires in a coven, Joonmyun, Luhan, Yi Fan, Kyungsoo and the two mates.”

“Seven.” The number slipped out of Sehun before he could stop himself. Jongin and Tao waited expectantly for some sort of elaboration. Fuck. “Uh. You guys don’t have to worry about him.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“I am. But I really can’t tell you this one.”

“Fine. So there’s seven of them and I assume that you and Xing will be working with them tomorrow?”

“Grossly simplified, but yes. That’s the plan.”

“If you get caught this time, you’re going to have your ass executed. Xing too.”

“We know.”

“But you’re doing it anyways.” Jongin could see Sehun’s resolve, it really wasn’t any use trying to talk the youngest out of anything he wanted to do.

“Like I said before.” Sehun looked at them dead-serious. “They’re good people, they’ve done some amazing things. They’ve helped me a lot.”

A pause.

“This thing you have with Luhan…”

“I’ve been telling you guys, it’s not romantic.” Sehun’s lips curved into a bitter smile. “I wanted it to be at first, but Luhan’s made it pretty damn clear he doesn’t want anything more than casual sex and blood. He’s fine to hang around, I guess, but that’s as far as it will ever go.” He smirked. “You guys probably have a better chance with your vampires.”

“They’re not _ours_ –”

“Whatever you say Jongin.” Sehun stood up with a flourish, pleased at the fact that the teasing was on the other foot for once.

\---

Walking briskly through the dark streets, Luhan stopped to sneeze. He rubbed his nose vigorously and, for some reason, the first thing that came to mind was the old superstition that talking behind someone’s back caused that particular someone to sneeze. 

He wasn’t going to stay the night in his own nest, not after Kyungsoo had texted him saying he’d be with Minseok and the rest, it was too lonely. Luhan had briefly contemplated going to Sehun’s, but he didn’t just want to go there for company. That was the exact opposite of what he wanted with the human, so Luhan was heading out to the rest of his coven. He wasn’t disappointed. Disregarding the ladder and jumping down into Joonmyun, Minseok and Yi Fan’s shared nest, he was met with the sight of Baekhyun and Kyungsoo making their own places on the couch.

“The grump has joined us!”

“Shut up Baek.” Luhan hissed at him, “God, why did I even bother –” He made an indignant noise as someone shoved a stack of blankets over his head. “Joon. I don’t think you’ve noticed but I’ve been dead for the last couple of centuries and I can’t catch a cold.”

“Sleep on the bare floor then.”

"You and Baek smell like dead people."

"We visited Xing in the morgue."

"If it has nothing to do with tomorrow, I don't want to hear about it."

Baekhyun watched them bicker, glad for the noise and the distraction it brought his anxious mind. Tomorrow. Everything happened tomorrow. He’d get Chanyeol back tomorrow. Baekhyun curled his blankets around him as Luhan settled down in the corner, Kyungsoo already an indiscernible mass of blankets on the other end of the couch. No one needed to turn the lights off, none of their nests had lights anyways. The second he closed his eyes, he knew it was going to be the most god-awful, sleepless, nerve-wracking night he’d have in his entire life. Baekhyun could hear the others’ uneasy shifting, their measured breaths, and knew everyone would be up tomorrow morning with panda eyes and a jittery movements. Yi Fan rearranged his blankets. Minseok obsessively tried to count the dust particles on his sheets like one would count sheep. It was going to be a long night, a mere prelude for a long tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please prepare for shit to hit the fan next chapter. If you want to leave the fic at this kind of relatively peaceful stage... do it now lol  
> Thanks for reading! :) Comments! :) Kudos!


	10. Fractured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a day late. Sorry. :P

To no one's surprise, not one of them had a wink of sleep, and they were all fully dressed and geared up an hour earlier than they had to be. Back in his house, Sehun mirrored the coven's actions, dressing up in almost exactly the same way. Facemask. Hoodie. Kyungsoo opted for a cap instead. Then they waited.

Joonmyun and Kyungsoo left first, lifting their hands above their heads to stretch. It was a purely human habit, but it made them feel better anyways, more prepared.

Yi Fan and Luhan left next, the latter grinning in anticipation. They all had their own ways to deal with anxiety, and Luhan liked to laugh in its face. Yi Fan was more silent and stoic as they emerged onto the streets. The sun was set to rise in half an hour.

It was torture to wait until dawn. Baekhyun paced irritably around the nest as he felt the invisible power of day creep up on his body, killing his senses and muffling his strength. It couldn’t be helped. There were less squads after the night ended, and with the rest of the coven wreaking havoc on the streets, head quarters would be empty. Near the entrance, Minseok stood silently, watching the time tick on his watch. Finally, _finally_ , he motioned for Baekhyun to follow him.

\---

Sunday was supposed to be Jongdae’s peaceful day. Instead, Jongdae woke up to the sound of notification after notification popping up on his phone. He rolled over, irritated, then he saw all the reports piling up on the screen. Leeches. And they were active.

He tossed his blankets off him, dressed quickly, and jogged out of his room, rubbing awareness into his eyes as he scrolled through the reports. At least four vampires, ripping up streets in Yangcheon and attacking patrol cars as the returned to headquarters. Most likely rogues. No casualties yet.

“Tao! Jongin!” He waved, speeding up to come level with his friends. They looked up in surprise. “Where are you guys going?”

“We were just going to leave.” Tao said. “Do you want to come with us?”

A sharp, high voice answered before Jongdae could. “Zitao, the director asked you and Jongin to come to his office.” Ziwei smiled as Tao’s jaw clenched. “Your father said he had something to discuss afterwards and he prefers if you didn’t leave today.” Without another glance at the two men, she turned to Jongdae. “Uncle has also sent me out on the field, all of the squads are being deployed and I’m dreadful at driving patrol cars.”

“Go tag on one of the other squads.”

“I’m afraid I must insist.” Her smile went sharp. Then Ziwei left for the elevator, undoubtedly going down to the vehicle bay.

“You can’t just ignore her, she’ll make your life hell.” Jongin patted Jongdae consolingly on the shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”

  
“Since when has killing leeches become so complicated.” Jongdae muttered and turned to the stairs, missing the anxious look passed between Jongin and Tao.

 

When he made it to ground floor, Minseok was just walking through the doors.

“Captain!”

“What’s happening?”

“Leeches active on the streets. All the squads are getting sent out.” Jongdae made a face, “Ziwei’s dragging me out with her.”

“Dae…”

“I’ll get out of HQ, get some sunshine, just like you said.” Jongdae winked playfully at him.

“That’s really not what I meant.” Minseok actually looked worried, a small frown beginning between his eyebrows. “Dae, you don’t have to –”

“Fight every single leech that pops up yeah I know.” Jongdae rolled his eyes, starting to jog off. He called over his shoulder, “I’ve done this heaps of times captain, don’t worry about it.”

“I worry a lot.” Minseok muttered under his breath as he watched Jongdae go. He hoped Jongin and Tao were out of headquarters by now. A flicker of movement registered in his peripheral, but he didn’t turn to look.

\---

Yixing flickered up the stairs, his post in the medical bay be damned. If what Jongdae said was true, the control room was clear. It was strange, the medic had thought it would take more than this to get Ziwei to abandon her precious cameras, but he'd take what was offered. When he got to the top floor, he beelined straight for the control room, barely glancing at the closed grey door of the director's office. 

He got in without a hitch and watched the screens carefully. Jongdae was climbing in behind the wheel of a patrol car, Ziwei riding shotgun. Minseok loitered about the entrance. The other screens were filled with empty hallways, not another officer in sight. Perfect. Yixing fiddled through the controls and the screens went black. A couple more clicks and presses and a password or two later, the last fifteen minutes of footage vanished. 

 _Done._ He texted to Minseok. He left the room, locked the door behind him and slipped the key into his shoe.

\---

As soon as Minseok got the text, he called out softly. “Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun arrived in seconds, with a ruffled-looking Sehun in his arms.

“I could have walked by myself!”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he set the human down on the floor. “It would have taken longer. Now, where’s Yeol?”

Minseok herded them down the stairs to the cells.

“Ok, we can’t cross here.” Minseok and Baekhyun stopped outside the silver line of the guardroom. He turned to Sehun. “The key you’re looking for has the number twelve on it.”

Metal clinked as Sehun rifled through the drawers, finding the key and holding it up for Minseok’s inspection. Minseok nodded.

“Can we hurry this up?” Baekhyun was bursting with tension, eyes permanently red and flickering around him warily. Down here, under all the silver and blood, he could smell Chanyeol. And it was like a breath of air, something desperately needed.

\---

The patrol car had barely gone further than a block away when Ziwei called for a stop and got out.

Jongdae watched her with building irritation. “What are you doing?”

“I think we left something back in headquarters.”

Jongdae huffed, ready to snap at her when she shushed him.

“Let’s take a nice, slow walk back shall we? It’ll be _fun_.”

\---

“This is fun!”

“Are you mad?” Yi Fan hissed viciously back at Luhan. Both of them were sporting minor burns. Their ears were filled with the sound of shouting and sirens, the scent of silver almost burning their noses. They had encountered a few civilians, but a snap of fangs had them running back home, and with AVPF telling everyone to stay off the streets, the morning was deserted. Luhan grinned and kicked over a street light, bits of pavement ripping from the ground in the process.

“We never get to run around like this anymore.”

“Don’t lose your head, we’re just supposed to be distracting them not killing them.” Yi Fan pulled his phone out, distracted by the buzz. “Baek and Sehun are in, we won’t have to hold the sucker cops out here for much longer.”

Luhan pouted, “What a waste –”

Yi Fan yanked Luhan back, pulling them around the corner just as another sunbomb splintered the air with light.

-

“Joon!” Kyungsoo’s heart dropped when he almost crashed into the other vampire. Joonmyun was hunched over, blood blossoming down his side. There was only so long you could run around, teasing cops, before you got shot.

“Keep moving.” He winced, “Any word from Minseok?”

“Yeah, they’ve made it into HQ – ah fuck they’re here.” Their heads snapped up at the sound of footsteps coming down the street.

“We need to move.” Joonmyun forced himself to move, they’d have time to get the bullet out later.

\---

Chanyeol wasn’t moving. Baekhyun had witnessed his fair share of blood and gore, had caused some of it, but when he laid eyes on Chanyeol…

“Oh my god Chanyeol.” Baekhyun sank to his knees in front of the cell, looking like he wanted to reach out, but he was held back by the silver bars and lines. Chanyeol didn’t stir. “Yeol?”

“Sehun –”

“I got it.” Sehun leaned down to slot the key into the lock. Chanyeol’s eyelids fluttered. He sat up.

“Chanyeol, we’re here, we’re –” Baekhyun stopped uncertainly. Chanyeol wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at Sehun. And that sheen in his eyes –

Minseok jumped forward just as the lock clicked open, but it was too late. Sehun choked as Chanyeol burst out of the cell and tackled him to the floor, clawed fingers locked around his throat.

\---

Yixing’s throat closed up in panic when the elevator dinged open and revealed Ziwei, Jongdae in tow. He recovered quickly, smiling softly when they approached him.

“Dr Zhang, what are you doing here?”

“The control room is locked.” The medic gestured vaguely towards the door, “It’s been like that for some time now and the keys seem to be gone.

“Oh really?” Ziwei raised an eyebrow. Then she held out her hand to Jongdae. “Give me your gun.”

Yixing watched helplessly as she shot the lock, the door swinging open mockingly.

\---

Minseok’s phone buzzed – that must be Yixing, they didn’t have much time left – but he had a lot more to worry about right now. He gripped Chanyeol’s wrists and Sehun winced as claws scraped his throat, drawing blood. Then Baekhyun was there, wrapping his arms tightly around Chanyeol’s waist.

“Min, get Sehun out of here!”

Sehun had just got to his feet when Minseok swept him off them again, the world around him blurring as the vampire ran. In seconds, he was out of headquarters. In another minute, he was several blocks away.

“What happened!?” Sehun clutched at Minseok’s sleeve. “Why was Chanyeol like that?”

“They didn’t feed him. He’s crazed, he would have ripped you to bits without thinking.” Minseok gave him a short hug before pushing him away. “Go home. You’ve done enough for us.”

“Don’t get killed.”

\---

As soon as Sehun disappeared from sight, Chanyeol went lax, pawing irritably at Baekhyun’s shoulder. Baekhyun forced him to crouch, to stare at him.

“Yeol?”

Blank stare. No recognition. No reply.

“Yeol it’s me.” Baekhyun’s eyes stung. He blinked them away angrily. Now was not the time. Chanyeol blinked curiously, catching a bloody tear on the tip of his finger and sucked it away. Baekhyun almost sobbed in relief at Minseok’s returning footsteps.

“Baek?”

“I can’t get him to move.” Baekhyun tugged fruitlessly at his mate as if to prove it, turning around to meet Minseok’s thoughtful gaze.

“Just keep his focus on me will you?” Minseok rolled up his sleeves, claws pushing past his fingernails. Then he dragged his claws down his forearm. Blood splattered onto the floor. Chanyeol’s attention locked onto him instantly. Minseok walked slowly backwards. Even though his blood was cold and dead, it still _smelled_ like blood – though a little stale – and that was enough for now.

Minseok tore himself open a few more times to keep his blood flowing, it was slow going. Baekhyun was latched to Chanyeol’s side, just in case he scented something else and decided to run off. Not that they couldn’t catch him if he did, Chanyeol didn’t look like he could run very fast.

Everything went smoothly until they reached ground floor. Minseok stood at the door, digging his claws under his skin again.

“Chanyeol – Chanyeol _please._ ” Baekhyun pushed when Chanyeol stalled, staring curiously in the direction of the stairs.

“Captain!” No. _No._ Jongdae skidded to a stop, gun in hand, at the end of the stairs. Chanyeol tensed, mouth dropping open in a snarl as he ripped away from Baekhyun and pounced.

Minseok grabbed Jongdae by the neck and wrenched him away. Baekhyun had Chanyeol by the arm, pulling him kicking and flailing out the door. Then they were gone. Minseok breathed a sigh of relief, tensing when Jongdae’s hands landed on his shoulders. Did Jongdae see?

“Min, are you ok?” Somewhere between then and now, Minseok’s sleeves had slipped back down, hiding the mess of his arm. Minseok waved him off.

“I’m fine. But they got away.”

\---

Baekhyun held Chanyeol down, forcing him to stare into his eyes. He didn’t want to do this, he didn’t even know if he could, but if he didn’t get Chanyeol under control they weren’t getting anywhere.

“Chanyeol, look at me – come on.” Baekhyun’s heart hurt with how easy it was to wrestle Chanyeol to stillness. He let the mirage pool in his eyes. “Chanyeol nod for me.” Chanyeol nodded. “Get up ok?”

Baekhyun watched warily, arms out just in case his mirage slipped and Chanyeol went harping off after another scent. When Chanyeol stayed still, Baekhyun beckoned.

“Follow me.”

 

He was a jittery wreck by the time he lead Chanyeol into Joonmyun’s nest. Baekhyun’s head hurt with the effort of the mirage and he sagged, relieved, when he was met with four familiar faces. They were all alive. His coven jumped to their feet, then stopped. Baekhyun sighed and nudged Chanyeol forward, letting the mirage slip from his grasp. He sighed again when Chanyeol’s blank, confused stare returned.

“Welcome back Yeol.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Baekhyun.” Yi Fan said gently, approaching slowly. Baekhyun had Chanyeol’s head cradled in his lap, stroking back strands of hair. Chanyeol was asleep, kept unconscious by Baekhyun’s mirage. They couldn’t let him wake up until night fell and they could hunt for him.

“No Yi Fan. I’m not alright.”

“I wasn’t going to ask that.” He sat down next to them, perching on the armrest of the couch, and waited silently. It didn’t take long.

“I have him back but at the same time I don’t.” Baekhyun said softly, still staring at his mate’s peaceful face. Chanyeol didn’t recognize any of them and it hurt, to look into eyes that once held so much adoration reduced to hollow pits, only filled with thirst.

“He’ll get better Baek.”

“How long will that take?” He whispered. “How much blood will it take to bring him back to me?”

Behind them came Kyungsoo’s soothing voice. “C’mon Joon, relax.”

 

Joonmyun gritted his teeth and forced his muscles to loosen. Kyungsoo didn’t give him a second to think, digging a clawed finger into Joonmyun’s side and dragging out the bullet. Joonmyun’s knees gave and he sank to the tiled bathroom floor, feeling the odd, tight sensation of his flesh knitting back together. It was slower than usual.

“You lost a lot of blood.”

Joonmyun only nodded tiredly. They had no time to take the bullet out whilst they were running around outside, and the silver had kept his wound open and leaking. “It’s fine.” Then he turned his head slightly to call Luhan. “Lu, I know what you’re thinking right now.”

“What?”

“Go to Sehun.” Joonmyun’s voice was final. “He’s worried about you.”

\--- 

Tao and Jongin were left waiting alone for almost two hours. They had turned their phones back on, keeping up to date with each new report that rolled in as they sat silently in the director’s office. This time, Tao really couldn’t tell what it would be about.

The director arrived without warning, and Jongin and Tao stood up respectfully, waiting for him to take his seat first, surprised when he spoke instead.

“We are meeting your cousin in the medic bay.” The director didn’t even look at his son when he left, and the two young men were left scrambling to follow him.

 

There were more beds occupied, filled with officers with minor injuries, but Tao and Jongin were led to a curtained-off area to see –

“Captain!” Jongin rushed forward, worry creasing his brow. Yixing was just putting down Minseok’s arm, the skin obscured under bandages. Tao turned to Jongdae,

“What happened?”

“The leech we caught had friends, they broke him out somehow.” Jongdae looked _pissed._ “Minseok tried to stop them on his way out but –”

“– they got away.” Minseok finished for him with a wry grin, his face arranging itself to something more serious when he saw the director behind them. He bowed his head slightly. “Director Huang. I hope you are not here for injuries as well?”

“No. Ziwei has told me something very interesting, and I merely wish to see it with my own eyes.”

A chill ran down Tao’s back as he studied his father. The director gave nothing away, cold and distant with his lined face and peppered silver hair. They waited silently, tense, until Ziwei slipped past the curtains, heels clicking on the floor. She bowed to her uncle, smiling beatifically, then she took out her gun and pointed it at Minseok’s heart.

 

Jongdae did not hear the gun go off, but the way Minseok fell to the floor was horrifying enough. He found himself with a fistful of Ziwei’s shirt in his hand, his face inches from hers as his voice shook.

“What are you doing?!”

She cackled and for a second there Jongdae could swear her eyes glinted red. “Look! Look Dae, look at your beloved captain and tell me that he’s human.” 

“What –” He was stopped by Jongin’s gasp and a weak cough. Minseok… stood up. Jongdae blanked. Minseok did not _look_ like Minseok. His face was twisted in pain, hand pressed to his stomach as red stained his T-shirt. Red… His eyes were red too. Jongdae released Ziwei, hand falling slack. “Vampire.”

\---

Sehun startled when his door slammed open, revealing a crop of bleached hair and Luhan’s petite figure.

“At least knock?”

“Are you ok?” Luhan leaned over him frantically, hands brushing over the scratches on his neck. “I saw Chanyeol, he’s –”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“There’s no word for it, we just call it a craze.” Luhan sighed. “He’s going to be like that until he gets enough blood.”

“Could I –”

“No.” Short and final. “Chanyeol has absolutely no control right now, the thirst has taken over, he’d rip you in two without blinking an eye. Anyways, I’ll be going now…”

“Stay.” Sehun said, a little too quickly. “I’ll put on some coffee.” He really didn’t want to be left alone right now. But he could see the way Luhan's expression shuttered close, withdrawing back into his shell.

"I'm fine thanks." Luhan got up to leave, raising an eyebrow when Sehun grabbed his shoulder. "What?:"

“Just because this thing we have –” Sehun gestured between them, “– isn’t some sort of sappy romance shit doesn’t mean we can’t treat each other like friends.”

“Just because we’re _friends_ doesn’t mean I have to commit –”

“Is that what really this is about Luhan? Commitment?” Sehun stood up, frustrated. “I just helped your coven break into AVPF’s headquarters, is it so hard to be nice for five minutes?”

“I’m checking up on you right now aren’t I?”

“Because you care about me or my blood?”

Luhan stood up to match him, eyes glinting a dangerous red. “I don’t _care –_ ”

Sehun didn’t want to hear him finish that sentence. _I don’t care about you_.

“Caring as _friends_ Luhan. Do you even understand that word?”

“Well, maybe I don’t even want to be a friend!” Luhan’s snarled retort was met with shocked silence. The vampire could feel it when Sehun’s shock melted into hurt and he didn’t have time to regret his words when Sehun spoke again.

“Get out.” The two words slapped Luhan like a tonne of bricks. He gaped at Sehun, at the tears starting to gather at the corner of his eyes. The human’s face was ominously blank. “Get the fuck out.”

“Sehun –”

“I said get OUT.” Sehun screamed, features twisting in anger. Luhan was sent reeling, wincing as pain stabbed at his brain like silver needles. Sehun meant what he said, he _meant_ it, and Luhan could only stumble out the door, repelled from Sehun’s cramped apartment as his invitation in disappeared. The vampire found himself standing helplessly just outside the doorway as Sehun stormed towards him.

“Sehun –”

“I don’t want to hear you again.” The first tear streaked down Sehun’s cheek and Luhan felt the urge to wipe it away, to hold Sehun until he smiled because he cared, but he just couldn’t _say_ it.

He tried again, “Se –”

“I _hate_ you.” And Sehun meant it. But Luhan hadn’t meant anything that passed through his lips before and he was now desperately trying to eat his words.

“No, wait –”

“Don’t touch me, don’t even come near me.” Sehun spat. Then he slammed the door in Luhan’s face. Go meet Sehun, they said. It would be fun, they said. Luhan stayed outside, staring mutely, until Sehun’s sob tore into his ears and he couldn’t bear to stay any longer.

\--- 

Everything slowed, startlingly clear to Tao’s eyes. Minseok’s eyes were red, yes. But they were the same red as Mark’s, the same as Yi Fan’s, and it all clicked in under a second. Seven members in Yi Fan’s coven. Tao saw Ziwei point her gun again, saw Yixing jump forward. Tao reacted before his brain caught up with his body.

Behind him, Jongin must have thought the same, because he was there snatching Ziwei’s sunbomb from her pocket as Yixing knocked the gun to the side. Tao slammed into her. He turned and Minseok was looking at him, apology written in bold across his face, then his gaze slipped to the side – to Jongdae – before he ripped the curtains away and bolted.

Time sped up, returning to normal, and one second no longer felt like an hour. Ziwei jumped to her feet, cheeks flushed and – why was she looking so triumphant still? Tao felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. His father was as unruffled as ever when he addressed them like nothing had happened.

“Ziwei has provided enough proof to have your captain invalidated. Your squad will be split to fill other teams. Now then, Tao. Come with me.” And the director left with Ziwei close behind.

Jongin shoved Tao out of his frozen reverie. “Tao go. We’ll handle…” He cast a meaningful glance towards Jongdae.

“But Min –” Yixing shushed him, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

“I’ll contact him later. Now go.”

 

The grey door to the director’s office was open. Tao’s father was once again situated behind his desk, standing with his ramrod straight posture. Ziwei stood next to him, hand possessively curled around the edge.

“Close the door dear cousin.”

Pursing his lips, Tao complied. When he turned around, Ziwei was pulling papers out onto the desk. His attention jumped back to his father. “Father, what is this about?”

The director didn’t answer right away. “Zitao. Remind me, what is your purpose?”

It was a question Tao had been taught the answer to since he could talk. “To rid the world of  the monsters which plague mankind.”

The director raised an eyebrow, the last thing Tao saw before pain burst over his cheek. Tao stared, confused, and was rewarded with another vicious slap. The stitches Yixing had so painstakingly worked over had probably ripped open. Ziwei tittered, pushing forward one of the papers she’d pulled out. It was a photo, obviously from some sort of security camera feed. Tao’s blood ran cold.

“Mind telling us who this is?” Ziwei tapped on the photo. Tao was in the photo. With Yi Fan. In Jangmi. And they were kissing. Tao swallowed.

“What? Am I not allowed a relationship?”

Ziwei slid another photo over the desk – that goddamn desk – and Tao’s excuses died, shriveling up and making his stomach turn. There was no way he could deny this evidence, this pure truth. “I always thought you were the most upstanding officer out there, dear cousin.” Ziwei sighed. “But letting a leech bite you, that’s a whole new level.”

“That is enough.” The director graced her with a smile. “You are excused.” She bowed and left as the director sat down, swishing past Tao with an extra skip in her step. Tao’s mouth went dry.

“Father I –”

“You will be confined in the cells until further action is decided upon.” There must have been another squad waiting outside because Tao’s arms were grabbed and pinned behind his back, shoved mercilessly out of the office. There wasn’t even time to get in a full sentence.

“Father!” He screamed back, just once, and he was met with nothing but the click of a lock as the grey director’s door swung shut.

\---

Jongin’s gaze flicked between Yixing and Jongdae uneasily. Even more unsettling was how easy Ziwei and the director had let Minseok leave, but that was something they could handle later. They had dragged Jongdae out of HQ, out into the sunlight, and stood on the front steps, three squad members out of five.

“Did you know?” Jongdae’s voice cut them like a knife.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Jongin could see everything click in Jongdae’s mind, saw the numb shock give way to heated anger. Minseok was a vampire. And Yixing had _known_. Jongdae turned on the medic, fisting his hand in Yixing’s collar and bringing them face to face. Yixing yelped in surprise, gripping Jongdae’s arms as he was yanked forward.

“How long?”

“Since the start.”

“Why didn’t you _say anything?_ ” Jongdae shook the medic, releasing Yixing when Jongin grabbed his hands.

“They’re not rogues Jongdae –”

“ _They_!? So there’s more than one now?”

“Jongdae, you don’t understand –”

“It’s so easy to understand.” Jongdae was shouting now. “Did Tao know too?”

“Yes but –”

“All of you _knew_. What were you all doing behind my back? Did you lie to me every day?”

“ _No_ –”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Jongdae shoved Jongin away, turning on his heel. “Don’t try to call me.”

Jongin and Yixing were left by themselves. Two squad members out of five.

\---

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Minseok shot down everyone’s questions with a glare. “Where’s Luhan?”

“He went to check up on Sehun, he should be coming back soon.”

“Where’s Baek?”

“Right here.” Baekhyun popped out from Joonmyun’s room. “Yeol’s asleep. I’m going to ask Luhan if we can stay at his place again.”

“When it comes nightfall, we’ll help you hunt for him.”

Yi Fan and Kyungsoo turned to him, but Minseok answered their silent queries. “Tao and Jongin should be fine.” He paused. “Yixing too.”

“What about Jongdae?”

Minseok avoided Yi Fan's probing gaze. “He’s fine.”

 

* * *

 

 

Minseok’s phone buzzed again. He couldn’t put this off for much longer. A long line of texts and missed calls glared at him accusingly. He quickly texted back to one of them, just four words.

 _Stay where you are._ Then Minseok turned off the phone and left it on the table, ignoring Joonmyun and Yi Fan, and dodging Kyungsoo when he tried to put a hand on his shoulder.

 

Jongdae wasn’t that hard to find. With the sun gone and his senses at their peak, Minseok easily followed Jongdae’s trail up past Mapo hospital, past Yonsei University to the park. He didn’t give a damn if there were patrols around, or if there was a trap somewhere, or if Ziwei was tracking him. There were things that needed to be said.

Minseok didn’t know why he had expected something different. He probably shouldn’t have appeared as he did, silently and without any warning. He stayed frozen when Jongdae lifted his arm and pointed the gun at his head.

“Dae –”

“Don’t call me that.” Jongdae’s hands shook slightly, the tremor more evident in his voice than his body. Minseok fell silent, staring past the barrel of the gun and let his gaze roam over Jongdae’s face. This may be the last time he ever went to see the human. His friend. Jongdae’s eyes didn’t hold his, focusing on his forehead instead. Of course. The first rule you learnt as a cop. Don’t look into their eyes.

“Jongdae…” Minseok stepped forward slowly, not moving more than he needed to, ignoring the unfaltering presence of the gun. “Why were you calling me?”  
A heartbeat of silence. Then Jongdae’s incredulous bark of laughter ripped through the night silence, his face twisted in scorn, more directed at himself than the vampire before him. Why _did_ he try to get to Minseok? He should have left it alone. Hell, he should have shot Minseok as soon as he came into range.

“That’s the question isn’t it?” Jongdae asked. “Why? Of all things, why did you do _this?_ ”

“Because I’m not some kind of monster Dae –”

“Yeah, tell that to all the people you’ve _killed_.”

“Do you think that was by choice?” Minseok fought to keep his voice low, to keep the conversation from blowing up between them. He could see Jongdae’s answer in the set of his face. _Yes._ “Look – not all of us are the same as the rogues. I won’t hurt you, or anyone else –”

“Then why the hell did you lead me on like that?” Jongdae closed the last of the distance between them, pressing the gun between Minseok’s eyes.

“I didn’t –”

“It was never going to be a _maybe_.” Jongdae’s voice was despaired. “So when I asked you that night, why didn’t you say _no_?”

“I didn’t want to _hurt_ you.”

“You _lied_ to me.”

“I –”

“Those nights you took leave.”

Minseok stopped breathing.

“What were you doing?” It was a question, one Jongdae already knew the answer to. “Were you out there, hanging around the clubs with your coven and doing exactly what we were trying to stop?”

The silence was deafening. There must be some sort of insane explanation, some complex theory to Kim Minseok that Jongdae was missing. But in reality, there was just one word.

“Yes.”

“And you still came back to HQ the next day.” Jongdae’s words were soft, forced through gritted teeth. “You came back and you filed reports on people you fucking _killed_ –”

Minseok twitched minutely, looked like he was about to say something, anything, but he kept his mouth pressed shut. Jongdae exhaled shakily.

"That night," The night I confessed to you like some sort of kid with an incurable crush. "What were you  _thinking?_ " He wanted an answer and for a moment, it looked like he wasn’t going to get one. Then Minseok spoke.

“I liked you for longer.”

Jongdae shook his head slowly, gun still held unwaveringly. “I can’t do that with something like you.”

 

Minseok's heart stung, an acute pain that stabbed into his body, just like the bullet Ziwei fired at him. Only this time, he couldn't dodge it, couldn't lessen the blow. And it hurt. 

He knew his eyes must have turned red with his emotions, for Jongdae’s finger tightened on the trigger and his human breaths sped up in alarm. Minseok let it go, let the hurt push his fangs out of his gums and make claws sharpen from his fingernails. He could see Jongdae’s hesitation and laughed, his smile heavy with the weight of his fangs.

“What’s wrong Dae?” He stepped forward, pressing the gun harder to his head. “You can’t shoot something like me?”

“Stop it.”

“Why?” Minseok’s chest ached. “I’m not human right? I can’t hurt either right?” His clawed hand wrapped around Jongdae’s wrist, keeping the gun in place. “Shoot me.”

“Let go of me.”

“Why? You can’t pull the trigger?”

“Stop it Minseok.”

“You can’t kill me, can you?”

“Stop!” Their voices escalated into Jongdae’s yell, the human dropping his gun, its fall to the ground silent compared to their whirlwind of emotions, roaring in their ears. Minseok tightened his grip on Jongdae, knocking Jongdae’s feet out from under him. Jongdae landed flat on his back with Minseok hovering over him. How many times had Jongdae been in this position, staring not up at the night sky but at the ceiling of HQ’s training room? Too many. But never had Jongdae ever felt fear with the act. Now he did.

“Get off me.”

“There’s a stake on you, I know it.” Minseok grabbed him by the back of his neck and leaned down, fangs peeking out between his lips. “Make me.”

“I won’t fight you.”

“Oh?” Minseok dropped down lower so his mouth brushed down Jongdae’s jaw. The human jerked under him. “Why not? I thought I was a _thing_.”

“Minseok –”

“I thought you liked killing things like me.”

“I –”

“I thought it was easy for you.” The vampire shifted, trailing down Jongdae’s neck instead, listened to his sharp intake of breath.

“Don’t –”

“Make me stop then.” His tongue darted out to lick at warm flesh.

“ _Please, Minseok_.” Jongdae sobbed, and Minseok was suddenly aware of the pang of saltiness in the air. Tears. He pulled back, alarmed, and saw clear tracks glistening under the moonlight, more moisture pooling at the corners of Jongdae’s eyes every time he blinked. The red in his eyes receded, claws and fangs retracting, as he hesitantly lifted his fingers to brush the tears away. Jongdae flinched.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Dae –” Minseok rolled away just in time, Jongdae’s stake stabbing empty air where he had been just before. Jongdae got to his feet, picked up his gun.

“I thought I told you not to call me that.”

“Are you going to kill me, Dae?” Confliction rolled across Jongdae’s features like a thundercloud at Minseok’s sad question. “If you are. Then hurry up.”

Jongdae gritted his teeth, lifted his gun with trembling fingers, and pulled the trigger with a scream.

\---

Oh Sehun was so _fucking_ done. With cops, with vampires, with everything. It hurt. So much. His neighbours were drunk and noisy, as per usual. He had not moved from his curled up position on his bed since Luhan left. Until he heard the knock on the door. He thought it was Luhan. Tao maybe, or the rest of his friends. He was wrong.

He flung open the door, ready to scream if it was Luhan, to break down if it was someone else, but the face he met made his blood freeze in his veins. But instead of the fear, the panic, that usually came whenever he sighted his stalker, Sehun got pissed.

“Stop following me.”

“No.” The man smiled, serpentine, and edged a little closer. On a normal night, Sehun would have slammed the door shut, alarm bells ringing in his head. Today wasn’t a normal night. He just wanted to be left alone.

“Why?”

The man just grinned at him. Sehun’s anger started to fade, bubbling down to a simmer. Something glinted in the man’s hand. That was a knife. Not the bullshit, blunt-ass kitchen knife that lay in Sehun’s cupboard. A real one. All jagged and sharp. The fear kicked in.

Sehun’s grip tightened on the door, but it seemed his attacker already knew what he was going to do. Before Sehun could whip the door shut, a booted foot crashed into it from the other side and flung him backwards, landing painfully on his hip. He groaned. Through the paper-thin walls, someone screamed back, followed by a chorus of drunken laughter. No one was going to hear him. The man was stepping through the door. 

Sehun bolted as his attacker lunged, managing to get his crappy table between them. Fuck. He needed to get out of here. The entrance was right in front of him, but there was the table and this raving madman in the way. Sehun was already breathing heavily.

“I’m not moving, you know?” The man said conversationally, knife held loosely in one hand as he picked at his nails with the other.

“Fuck you.” Sehun hated how his voice shook, how breathless and trembly it was because he knew he was screwed as soon as he saw that face again. He scooted to the side, just a step. The man didn’t budge.

“Give up, boy.” He grinned and for some reason, Sehun focused on his teeth – like the way he would focus on a vampire’s fangs before they took a bite. His canines were sharpened. “I want you.”

“Leave me alone.”

“I get the things I want.”

Sehun should have been paying more attention to his feet because when the table flipped to the side, he was caught rooted to the floor, like a deer in a trap. He jolted when warm fingers wrapped themselves around his throat, choked when it tightened, tried to scream even when he knew no one would hear. Or care.

He fell limp, trying to be dead weight even though he was skinny as a stick and the man had no trouble dragging him, writhing and scratching across the floor. Then he was pulled upright, back pressed against the man’s chest. The hold on his throat loosened as a hand went over his mouth. Sehun bit him. His attacker yelped, withdrew his hand, but Sehun didn’t dare move because he had forgotten about the knife and it’s cold edge was now pressed under his chin, digging dangerously into skin. Behind him, the man laughed. It sounded mad.

“Do you like biting?”

 _Oh god. Don’t slice my head off please, please, please –_ sharp pain lanced through his neck, but not from the blade. The man’s hand had slithered up to cup his chin, holding him as he struggled, and _bit_ him. It was nothing like the deep ache Sehun knew came from fangs, there was no rushing tingling of pleasure afterwards, and he yelled, tried to push the man off his neck because it _hurt_.

“Because I like biting.” The man laughed again. “A lot.”

Then something smashed against the back of his head and Sehun’s world went dark.

\---

Jongdae walked blindly through the streets, face still wet with tears. He had left his gun behind with the vampire. He couldn’t kill it. Kill _him_. Because under the red eyes and fangs and claws, that thing was still Minseok, was still the captain he had trained with for most of his life. He wasn’t walking back to headquarters. Minseok wouldn’t be there. His squad wouldn’t be there. It was like watching his family get ripped to bits again, but this time was so much worse because he couldn’t see the monster doing it.

Like this, he didn’t notice the pairs of red eyes that followed him. Tracking him until he turned another random corner and found himself at a dead end. Then he was being slammed into the pavement so hard he heard something crack. Dazed, he stared up at the sky until a face blocked his view, unfamiliar and washed white by the moonlight.

 _Don’t look into their eyes._ Too late. Calmness flooded through him, making him relax, filling his ears with cotton. What was she saying to him? He couldn’t quite understand. Except… He really felt like saying yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must apologise deeply to Baekyeol shippers that their problems are just beginning. *evil face*  
> And yayyyyy we finally got to the real plot point I've been trying to make for eight chapters.  
> Kudos! Comment! :)))


	11. Execution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST TIME, ON MONSTER:  
> \- Sehun is captured!  
> \- Minseok is revealed!  
> \- We got Yeol back! yay?  
> \- Tao got found out oops  
> Enjoy the new chapter \^0^/

Two days. It was two days before Yixing and Jongin saw Tao again, and even then they didn't get more than a flash of black hair disappearing down the stairs. It had been two days and Jongdae hadn't returned, Sehun had not answered his calls, Kyungsoo had missed classes and despite Joonmyun's reassurances, the two cops were at breaking point.

So they found themselves walking in to the bubble tea shop under the chime of a bell, sitting as unobtrusively as possible in one of the corners. Yixing balanced his head on his arms, eyes fluttering closed, and snoozed gently, the shadows under his eyes more pronounced than ever. Across the table, Jongin's knee jerked in anticipation, waiting for the employee shift to change. It was just after sunset; they shouldn't have to wait for long.

Jongin was expecting tall and lanky, so when short and small walked in instead, it took a second for recognition to kick in.

"Luhan!"

The vampire stopped, Jongin nudged Yixing under the table and the medic woke up, blinking around.

"What are you guys doing here?" Luhan weaved past the tables to stand next to theirs. Then he and Jongin asked in perfect synchronisation:

"Have you seen Sehun?"

They stopped and Yixing frowned. “I thought he would have at least contacted you.”

“Uh…” Luhan scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “We kind of had a falling out.”

“He’s probably just avoiding us, I’ll drop by his place later.” Jongin hesitated. “Actually, Xing wanted to ask you something –”

“Give me a sec.” Luhan held up a finger and dashed off, putting on his uniform and waving the last shift’s worker away. Jongin watched him take out his phone and call someone, talking too fast and too quietly for the humans to hear. Then the vampire returned, drawing up a chair and plopping down between them. “Alright, what?”

\--- 

Jongin’s scent reached Kyungsoo before he even stepped into the shop, his gaze zeroing in on the cop almost instantly.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“God you two are so awkward.” Luhan stood up and sighed. “Alright. So… take care of the place for like ten minutes whilst I get Doc –” He jerked his chin at Yixing. “– to Joon.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as Yixing followed Luhan out the door, taking the medic’s vacated seat. 

The human tilted his head enquiringly, “Why did Luhan look so painfully constipated when you walked through the door?”

“He kind of broke up with Sehun – something he denied by the way because apparently they didn’t have a relationship in the first place – and now he’s being sour about it. I wish he’d just get his head out of his ass.” Kyungsoo scoffed. “How are you by the way?”

“Everything’s gone to hell in HQ, but I’m ok I guess. You?”

The vampire’s eyes dropped to the table. Was he… shy? “Better now you’re here.”

\---

Yixing couldn't help the way his gaze dissected Luhan, picking up on the small anomalies no one else would notice. It wasn't just because he was a vampire, Yixing gave all strangers his x-ray vision, but it piqued his interest all the same. What gave Joonmyun away was his breathing, the rise and fall of his chest too minimal, too measured for a human. For Luhan it was his eyes. The living had small habits, quick glances left and right, short pauses to make sure they were walking in the right direction. Sometimes their concentration wavered, following movement in the background. Luhan had none of those qualities, staring straight ahead with stillness that would make anyone's neck prickle uncomfortably.

"Stop doing that."

"Excuse me?"

"Stop looking at me." Luhan shot him a side glare, somehow turning the next few corners without looking away from Yixing.

"My apologies, it's a habit of mine."

"It's creepy." Luhan had led Yixing to a library complex, looping around the back to the storage facilities. He opened the door with a flourish, extending his arm in exaggerated invitation. "After you."

 

It was darker inside than the night outside, but Yixing had no trouble recognising the vampire coming out to greet them. Minseok smiled, the expression a little brittle around the edges. 

"Hey Xing -" The medic jumped him with a hug, clinging like a koala. 

"You're alright."

"Of course I'm fine." Minseok detached himself, "Jongdae?"

"He hasn't returned."

"Not anything?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault Xing." He turned to Luhan. "I'm going out to help Yi Fan and Baek - you don't want to know." Minseok shook his head at Yixing's curious glance. Luhan coughed.

"Well I'm getting Doc down into the nest so I'll see you later."

With one last wave, Minseok flitted away, fading out into the shadows. 

 

Luhan led Yixing deeper into the building, stopping at a seemingly random piece of carpet. He crouched and hooked his fingers under the material, peeling it up off the floor. Secret trapdoor. 

"Would you like me to hold your hand?" Luhan smirked, extending an arm. With a boldness that surprised the vampire, Yixing ignored the jibe and the arm and sat at the edge of the opening, legs dangling in darkness. Then he shifted his weight onto his hands and lowered himself into the nest. It was even darker in here, so dark Yixing couldn't see his fingers in front of his face.

“Yixing?” That voice was familiar. There was a faint whisper of sound, bare feet padding towards him. Then dim blue light bloomed in the darkness and illuminated Joonmyun’s face. The phone was on its lowest light setting yet Joonmyun still squinted uncomfortably, hair mussed and messily unfamiliar to Yixing’s eyes.

“Good evening Joonmyun.” Yixing looked around him curiously, wiling his eyes to adjust to the dimness. Most of the nest was still invisible to Yixing but he could make out the edge of a couch, a shadowed doorway. From somewhere above their heads came the sound of the trapdoor closing. In much the same way a doctor would examine their patient, Yixing reached out to cup the vampire’s cheek, tilting slightly to study his eyes. “When was the last time you fed?”

“Not so long ago.”

“Yi Fan told me you haven’t since that day.”

“Chanyeol needed it more.”

“I did say, last time, that you can feed from me.”

Joonmyun blinked his eyes open to dull crimson. The silence stretched thinly over them. A cool hand slipped over Yixing’s, gently tugging it down so it lay against Joonmyun’s chest, and Yixing had never been so painfully aware of his absent heartbeat. He was alone. In a nest. With a vampire.

“I don’t think this is a good idea Xing.”

“Why?” Yixing bit down on the rest of his question as Joonmyun slipped away, fading from the glowing radius of light and into the shadows. He had to wait a while for a reply.

“I haven’t had so much trouble controlling myself since I was less than a century old.” Joonmyun’s voice startled Yixing from behind.

“I trust you.”

“I almost bit you when I walked you back that night.” Joonmyun must have been pacing, agitated, because now he seemed to be somewhere to the right, his voice tracking around Yixing in circles. “And now that I’m thirsty – I don’t want to risk it.”

“Joon…” Yixing lifted his hand, still blind to everything outside the phone’s illumination. He waited. One second. Two. Then cold fingers met his hesitantly. Yixing slotted their hands together, pulling Joonmyun forward into the dim light. He stepped closer, free hand latching onto Joonmyun’s neck, and kissed the vampire. 

Joonmyun was frozen, an ice statue, until he moved and their lips slid softly together, hot and cold. Their touches were tentative, almost polite in the way they left a gap between their chests, a gap they couldn’t recreate if they closed it. They pulled away gently, gazes locked on each other, equal parts certain and uncertain. Yixing leaned forward again, slow enough for Joonmyun to pull away if he wanted to stop, and brushed his lips delicately over the other’s cheek, settling his hands on Joonmyun’s waist. 

“Xing – Yixing stop.” Joonmyun's breath sounded pained and he shivered when Yixing’s hot breath fanned over his jaw. He pushed the human away gently. “I don’t want to hurt you, it would be so easy for me to hurt you.”

Yixing sighed, a touch exasperated but mostly fond. “Do you trust me Joonmyun?”

“I don’t trust myself.”

“Well I trust you and you trust me so therefore you trust yourself.” Yixing moved carefully, taking Joonmyun with him until they stood by the couch. Joonmyun paused, letting the human’s scent wash over him.

“How do you want to do this?” Joonmyun watched as Yixing flushed sharply, the colour starting from his neck and turning his ears pink. Yixing took a step back, fingers disappearing into his knitted sleeves.

“Um, I was actually going to ask you.” Yixing’s hand jumped to his neck, rubbing nervously. “Not the neck, or the arm… it’s too noticeable, especially with headquarters so active now. So I was thinking, femoral vein? Upper thigh?”

Joonmyun watched him carefully, “Are you sure Xing?”

In answer, Yixing tightened his arms around Joonmyun, pulling them flush together, and the gap between them disappeared. Maybe it was never there in the first place. Maybe it had been disappearing slowly, like some sort of time bomb wired to explode at the lightest touch. Joonmyun’s hand trailed down past his ribs, stopping at his hipbone. Yixing nodded and Joonmyun let his fingers wander further down, coming to rest high up Yixing’s inner thigh. Even through the jeans, that was _sensitive._ With a breathless exhale, Yixing fell back onto the couch, tugging Joonmyun down with him. The vampire nudged his legs apart and settled between them, dragging over a cushion for Yixing’s head. Then a thumb hooked its way under the waistband of Yixing’s jeans and he took a deep breath before nodding again, lifting his hips slightly so Joonmyun could slide off the garment.

 

Joonmyun leaned down and pressed his mouth to the inside of Yixing’s knee, working his way up with light kisses. Yixing jerked, a reflexive action, but Joonmyun held him still. 

“Xing, you’re too tense.” The vampire murmured, rubbing soothing circles into his calf. Another shaky breath, then Yixing’s muscles relaxed under his touch. Yixing propped himself up on his elbows, took one look at Joonmyun’s cramped position between his legs, and threw one of said legs over the vampire’s shoulder. He couldn’t help his curiosity.

“How do you determine where to bite?”

“I can hear it, smell it under your skin.” A finger stroked up Yixing’s thigh, making him shudder, and traced his femoral vein even as it disappeared deeper behind muscle and bone. “It feels warmer.” Lips replaced the touch, and suddenly Yixing could feel twin sharp pricks, not digging into his skin, but still _there_.

“Xing, may I feed from you?”

Yixing leaned forward and weaved his fingers into Joonmyun’s hair. “Yes. You can bite me Joon.”  


Sharp pain pierced through delicate skin and Yixing gasped, legs trying to clench closed around Joonmyun’s shoulders. He prepared himself for the rush of venom, read from reports and cop accounts, for the tingle, the buzz – it hit him like a truck.

Yixing spasmed, arching against the couch, and Joonmyun would have winced at how hard Yixing pulled at his hair if he was human. Joonmyun made a small noise of surprise, looking up from between Yixing’s legs as the medic panted. It felt… so strange when Joonmyun’s fangs slid out of him… ticklish when the vampire’s tongue darted out to catch the blood still oozing from the puncture wounds. Yixing head spun, but he shook his head to dispel Joonmyun’s worries and watched as the vampire latched onto the bite and sucked, moaning at the sensation.

It seemed to take forever. When Joonmyun finally sat up, Yixing went limp on the couch, still buzzing in aftershocks from the venom. Later, Yixing would find bruises in the shape of handprints on the backs of his thighs, but now – slightly loopy and delirious – all Yixing could medically conclude was that he felt deprived and Joonmyun was _right here_ leaning over him and –

“Xing are you ok?” Joonmyun’s voice faded into his consciousness, laced with worry. Yixing sat up and gripped Joonmyun’s collar, locking their lips together again.

\---

Jongin and Kyungsoo left Luhan to his silent moping and walked side by side down moonlit streets, hands not touching but brushing occasionally.

“There’s no way you haven’t had any past flings.”

“I’ve had Joonmyun, but that barely counts.”

“Why not?”

Kyungsoo shrugged, “Never really went past physical attraction. I’m pretty lonesome compared to the rest of my coven.”

Jongin eyed him curiously, nudging him in silent question. Sighing, Kyungsoo ticked off his members mentally. “Luhan and Minseok were a thing when they were young. Then Minseok turned Yi Fan and the three of them bumped into Joonmyun. Apparently Joonmyun and Yi Fan had the longest lasting relationship, but I wasn’t there to see it. After that, Joon turned me around about the same time they met Baekhyun. Minseok and Baek had a thing for a while before Baek turned Chanyeol and everything turned out as it is today. Luhan’s had heaps of relationships with other covens too.”

“Doesn’t it get a little awkward?”

“Not really, no.” Kyungsoo tilted his gaze up to look at Jongin. “When you’re immortal, I guess you come to terms with the fact that things change and you just have to move on.” His lips pulled up into that beautiful heart-shaped smile. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

Kyungsoo raised and eyebrow and Jongin relented.

“Tao and I went through a bit of a phase together.”

“Wow. Together?”

“Not _together_ together.” Jongin threw up his hands hurriedly. “We had a little bit of a rebellious streak and we just went out to clubs on free nights sometimes to – do… things anyways look we’re here!” They had arrived at Sehun’s apartment block. Jongin jogged up the stairs, ignoring Kyungsoo’s smirk, and slid to a stop in front of Sehun’s door. He knocked.

“Hun! Open up!

Jongin expected the clutter of a pen falling to the table, the scrape of a chair and footsteps. He expected Sehun’s scowling face appearing behind the door. All he got was a whole lot of nothing.

He knocked on the door again, harder this time. “Sehun? It’s Jongin.”

“And Kyungsoo.”

Silence. The first rational thought Jongin had was that Sehun was at work, but they’d just been to the bubble tea shop and Luhan was going solo. Plus, it was night time. A deep uneasiness settled in Jongin’s gut when he tried the door. Locked.

“Sehun?”

\---

The darkness of the nest wasn’t as deep as it was before, or maybe Joonmyun had just turned up the phone brightness. Either way, Yixing could see enough to swing his legs off the couch and do a quick once over. He felt a little woozy and the upper inside of his thigh ached (how had he gotten his jeans back on again?), but he seemed fine. That was, until he tried to stand up and nearly crumpled to the floor. Cool hands caught him.

“Medics make the worst patients.”

“Joon, I honestly feel fine.”

“You need to eat something.”

“It wasn’t even a huge amount of blood loss.” Yixing yawned halfway through his smile, covering it with sweater paws.

“You passed out after a couple of minutes.”

“I’m not quite sure why I did that, I don’t have any medical issues that I know of…”  
Joonmyun set him back down on the couch, mirroring Yixing’s previous actions and cupping the medic’s cheek with concern. “Don’t worry, you’re perfectly healthy, it’s just my venom.”

Curious yet again, Yixing asked: “Do different vampires have differing effects in their venom?”

“That’s a difficult question.” Joonmyun sat to him and he shivered, still not quite used to the fluidity to Joonmyun’s movements. “To put it simply, we are similar to humans in the way that we have our own strengths and weaknesses, but where we get these attributes from has no correlation to our previous living body.”

“So a muscular, built vampire could be physically weaker than a skinnier one?”  
Joonmyun nodded. “That is the case in our coven too, our strongest physically is Luhan. I used to have the strongest venom, but that was before I turned Kyungsoo.”

Yixing shifted thoughtfully, making to cross his legs before the ache of the bite had him wincing and going still again. “Can these attributes be passed on?”

“No, it was completely by chance, there’s been many cases where the humans turned had no similarities to their makers whatsoever.”

Yixing opened his mouth, about to pose another question, when his own phone buzzed. Before he could even think of going to get it, Joonmyun was already handing it to him.

“They need me back at the hospital.” Yixing tried to stand up again, yelping when Joonmyun picked him up.

“I’ll go with you.”

\---

Yi Fan smiled sweetly at his catch for tonight, her irises already ringed red with mirage, and beckoned with his finger. She followed him obediently, monotone steps taking her further and further away from the safety of the night club and deeper into the darkness. With a heavy heart, Yi fan turned a corner to find Baekhyun and Chanyeol, the latter perking up at the scent warm blood. The girl continued forward, walking blindly into death as Chanyeol pounced, his fangs ripping into her neck. Yi Fan sighed, going to stand next to Baekhyun.

“Is he getting better?”

“All his wounds are healed over.” Baekhyun had his bottom lip caught on his fangs, faint traces of red showing how he’d accidentally bitten through in his worrying. “But he acts the same.”

Chanyeol hummed happily, dropping the cooling body and turning to Baekhyun expectantly. “Hungry?”

“Oh yeah, he also started to speak again. If one word counts.” Baekhyun’s voice was detached, emotionless even as he smiled at his mate. “We’ll get you more ok?”

“Minseok’s coming.” And by the sound of it, he’d brought two more with him.

 

The bodies were a mess. There was a certain finesse that went into feeding, a neatness and speed a vampire mastered with time, but Chanyeol was acting purely on instinct, finding the hottest, most scent-heavy areas and sinking his fangs in without a second thought. Minseok watched Chanyeol finish, his hopes dashed to pieces when Chanyeol turned wordlessly to Baekhyun again.

“Hungry?”

“Ok Yeol, we’re going to – Yeol?” Baekhyun dashed forward to catch his mate before he could bolt off, his face creased with fear. Minseok and Yi Fan tensed. “Yeol what’s wrong?” Then the buzz of a patrol car had them dashing off the street. Chanyeol struggled, trying to run away from the scent of silver that sliced through the air.

“Yeol – shhh.” Baekhyun managed to get Chanyeol down to eye level, pinching Chanyeol’s nose. Losing his ability to smell, Chanyeol subsided, calming slightly and staring at Baekhyun with wide eyes. The patrol car passed. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

“We need to move.” Yi Fan helped Baekhyun steer Chanyeol away. “Min, will the bodies be a problem?”

“AVPF will just classify it under rogue activities, it should be fine.” They had avoided security cameras, mindful of their faces. Minseok, Baekhyun and Chanyeol almost definitely had their identities put up everywhere, and the last thing they needed right now was another capture. “Has Tao replied any of your calls?”

Yi Fan shook his head, “Not even my texts. No one’s seen him.”

They fell silent when the buzz of the patrol car intensified again. This time, it passed down one of the parallel roads.

\---

He could hear cars. Sehun pressed his ear against the rough concrete wall of the room, almost falling face-first into the wall, thrown off balance by the way his hands were tied in front of him. He didn’t know what time it was. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know who the others were, but he could hear them faintly in the other rooms. Someone was crying. Someone was moaning in pain. Sehun sank down onto the worn out mattress shoved into the corner of the small room, the only other objects being a water bottle. At some time Sehun assumed to be noon (but his captor could just be messing with his body clock) a tray of food would join the water bottle. 

The clang of a gate – Sehun couldn’t really see from the small window set in his door – had him bolting up too fast. He winced and pressed his tied hands to his forehead, trying to quell the ache. If he had a mirror, he’d be able to see the bruises across his cheekbone, but he could feel it just fine. His captor was coming. 

Screaming started up somewhere to his right and Sehun tensed, stumbling back from the door and curling up in the corner on the mattress. The panic that originally gripped him had loosened, but the fear stayed, coiling in his gut like a snake, heavy and cold. Footsteps neared his little prison, fingers tapped on the door. It opened.

 

The man that stood in the doorway was average. If you passed him on the street you wouldn’t look twice, his face would fade into the general mass of people. Until you saw him smile, then you’d think him mad.

“Hello Sehun!” He smiled as Sehun curled tighter, as far away from the creep as possible. He had heard the others through the walls before, heard them scream and sob and plead – “How are you doing today?”

Sehun pressed his lips together and stared up at his captor defiantly. His gaze dropped after a few seconds. _Don’t look them in the eyes._ But his captor was human and avoiding humans was so much harder. 

In his moment of distraction, the man had crossed the cramped space and tangled his fingers in Sehun’s hair, yanking him up so hard Sehun was sure his scalp would rip off.

“I asked you a question.”

“Good. Ok? My day’s been _just so fucking good._ ” Sehun spat, yelping when the man pulled harder.

“Language kid, or I’ll pull your tongue out.” As if to prove his point, he shoved a thumb past Sehun’s lips, pressing down on Sehun’s tongue so that he choked. Sehun instinctively snapped his teeth together, tasting iron, and the man pulled back, laughing his head off. Then he slammed his foot into Sehun’s stomach, driving the air from his lungs. 

Sehun’s mouth fell open in a silent groan – trying to breath in, breath out, make a noise, _anything_ – and was completely helpless as a hand locked under his chin.

“I _like_ you.” His breath ghosted over Sehun’s neck and he panicked, trying to writhe out of his tormentor’s grip because _Don’t bite me don’t don’t don’t –_

“Don’t!” Too late. Sehun screamed, more out of disgust than pain at this point, and tried to kick back.

“You know what else I like?”

“Fuck you.”

“I like the taste of blood.”

Oh god.

“I like it when I have a knife in my hands.”

Someone save me.

“I thought you would have liked it too. Didn’t you bring home that vampire? Didn’t you let him bite you over and over?”

Luhan, save me.

“Didn’t you ever think about it boy? You’ve been fucking a corpse for several months –”

Sehun broke past his grip, common-sense be damned, and bolted for the door, only to come crashing to the floor, tackled from behind. He was dragged back onto his mattress, the man’s grinning face inches from his.

“It’s too bad you’re not really my type.” A thumb pressed into the new bite mark, making Sehun grit his teeth. “Or then we’d really be able to have some fun.”

The underlying meaning to his words didn’t hit Sehun until the man was long gone, off to mess with another one of his captives.

\---

The door to Tao’s cell swung open, clanging noisily into the wall. He was in one of the cells meant to contain feeders. No bars, just plain blank walls and a cramped bed.

“I know you are not sleeping.”

Tao stayed still on the bed, refusing to open his eyes. The director stayed where he was, stiff and unyielding, until Tao had to roll over and face him.

“What.”

“You will be executed tomorrow morning, that is all.”

Silence. Tao supposed he should have felt fear, pain, but his father’s words bounced off him, causing irritation instead. “Is that really all you have to say to me?” Tao swung his legs off the bed, brushing his hair angrily off his forehead. The director turned to leave and Tao was left looking at the crisp, ironed shirt on his back.

“Father –”

“You are not my son.”

Tao stood up, crossing the small space to confront the director’s back, almost shouting to make himself heard in the quiet.

“You told me to do whatever I could, to kill those damn rogues.”

“And you should have killed that thing when you were done.”

“His name is –”

“You’ve been a disgrace.”

“Yi Fan didn’t kill my mother, nor did he kill my sister.”

“Then how many do you think he’s killed in their place?”

“Only because we make them to!” Tao raised his hands helplessly, halfway to grabbing the director by his shoulders and spinning him around before thinking the better of it. “Father _please_ –”

“You have lost any right to call me that.” Then the director left, locking the cell behind him.

 

Tao slammed his fist against the metal door once in frustration, listening to the director’s footsteps fade away. Suddenly exhausted, he returned to the stupid cramped bed and stared up at the ceiling. He was going to die tomorrow. For some reason, that thought didn’t really stir anything in him. He was tired. He was done. Would they bury him next to the blank tombstone? Next to Jiazi? He supposed his name wouldn’t be recorded either. Would his friends come to visit, standing warm and alive above the soil? He never really got to say goodbye to any of them.

Just as his breathing slowed, teetering on the precipice of sleep, Tao had one last thought.

Would Yi Fan bring him flowers?

\---

Joonmyun had insisted Yixing ate something before going down to the morgue, but Yixing carried his tray of hospital food down instead, report file tucked under his arm. The medic didn’t think he could make the elevator ride down without throwing up if he’d eaten first. He found himself in one of the empty rooms, Joonmyun a silent presence over his shoulder, biting chunks out of a sausage roll as he pored over the report.

“Was this the body you showed me last time?” Joonmyun scanned quickly through the text – _missing organs: kidney, liver, lung. Blood loss major but not related to death_ – and if he could still pale in horror he would have.

“Yes, the ‘normal’ medics finished their own autopsy.” Yixing pushed the report away, the nausea he was trying so hard to avoid creeping up his throat. The medic walked briskly out of the room, walking past doors until he came to the right one. Just another body, another day at work. "His organs were removed when he was still alive."

“Are you ok?”

“No. But I have to do this.” Yixing’s gaze was sharp enough to cut steel as he pulled the sheets off a new corpse, trying not to think about how he had done exactly the same for Mark’s squad before they clawed their way back from the dead. “The report is the similar to the previous one, same conditions with human bite marks but they wanted me to check again just in case.”

 

Joonmyun watched him work, there _were_ faint scents of vampires on the body, but it was only in passing as if they’d carried the body for some time.

“Where was she found?”

“In Yangcheon, a whole district away from the first one.” Yixing straightened up, “Do you think the body could have been moved?”

“It would make sense, vampire’s wouldn’t leave traces like a human, but how would you prove this to AVPF? None of your equipment can pick up on it, and it’s not as if you could smell it like I could.”

Sighing, Yixing pulled the sheets back over the body, disposing of his gloves and leaning against the autopsy table. “It’s simple, I can’t report it. If I do…”

“They’ll execute you for fraternizing with a vampire.” Joonmyun pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. “This is insanity.” His hand dropped abruptly, head turning sharply to face the general direction of the elevator, hearing something Yixing’s human ears were too weak to detect. “Jongin’s coming down with Kyungsoo.”

 

Even Yixing could hear Jongin’s rushed, heavy steps until he burst into the lab, chest heaving with exertion. Kyungsoo walked in after him, infinitely more put together, but they both had the same worried twist to their features. As Jongin caught his breath, Kyungsoo nodded in greeting to Yixing before speaking to the both of them.

“Sehun’s missing.”

\---

Minseok wasn’t paying to much attention to the scents of other vampires. The humans outside the pubs were drunk and basically unconscious on their feet, easy targets, so it was no surprise that their kind were out in force. So Minseok just let them be, more intent on hooking in another for Chanyeol. That was, until the same scent crossed him yet again. It was slightly familiar, like a piece of favourite clothing you had pulled out of the laundry and it had layers of bleach and soap muffling it’s original smell. He stopped. The scent got stronger. Had it been following him the whole night?

 

He dropped a quick text to Yi Fan and Baekhyun, flitting through dark, deserted streets to end up once again at the park. If he was going to get into a fight, he wanted to see his opponent coming. The scent intensified again. Minseok’s eyes scanned his surroundings. A whisper of grass blades and he snapped around, fixated on the hooded figure that melted out of the dark. He was just able to discern the crimson glow of its eyes. Minseok frowned… Then the strange vampire’s chin lifted, hood falling back, and Minseok could see he was male and –

“ _Jongdae?_ ”

Minseok gaped, shock tying his limbs to the ground and rendering him speechless. Jongdae was expressionless, a small dash of blood staining his mouth, and the sight was so alien, so jarring that Minseok felt like he was staring at a stranger. Minseok had become used to the sweetness of Jongdae’s scent, to his warmth when they practiced their fights and to the sound of air as he breathed in and out. This Jongdae had no need to breathe. He had no heartbeat.

In an instant, he was by Jongdae’s side, hands on his shoulders.

“Dae? What happened to you? Why –” Minseok had just enough time to twist to the side so that Jongdae’s claws missed his heart and sank into his shoulder instead. Grunting in pain, he shoved back, flesh already knitting over. They stood face-to-face, and Minseok’s focus went to Jongdae’s eyes. Everything was in the eyes. Jongdae’s were ringed with deeper red. Mirage. Something had turned him, killed him, and if that wasn’t enough, his will was buried away.

“Dae it’s me.”

 

Jongdae dashed forward and ripped with his claws. Minseok flickered away, circling his hands around Jongdae’s wrists. In uncanny similarity to their practice sessions, Jongdae reversed the grip. Usually Minseok was strong enough to resist. Not this time. Minseok only had time to snatch one of his hands back before Jongdae's fingers tightened, the snap of his bones cracking in the silence like a gunshot. 

Minseok lashed out, stepping in and hooking his foot behind Jongdae's knee. They stumbled, Jongdae dragging Minseok down with him. He squeezed at Minseok's broken wrist, taking the momentary distraction to flip them around.

Somehow Minseok got his good arm between their bodies, a barrier across Jongdae's chest as Jongdae leaned down to snap at him, hissing and snarling. Only a thin sliver of air separated Minseok's throat from Jongdae's fangs, and it was slowly closing, Jongdae pressing forward millimetre by millimetre until twin lines gouged into Minseok's flesh. 

\---

Text after text laid unread on Tao’s phone and Ziwei watched as new ones popped up. The older ones were from Yixing and Jongin. Those weren’t the interesting ones. However, the ones dubbed under ‘Kris’ were very interesting indeed. She made her way to the director’s office, knocking twice on the grey door and entering at her uncle’s invitation. Her lips split over her teeth in a smile as she presented the phone to him.  
“Uncle, I think it’s time we took care of this leech for good.”

His face darkened as he scrolled through the texts. “What do you suggest?”

She took Tao’s phone back with a flourish and typed a short answer back.

_Tomorrow morning at Jangmi?_

\---

There was only so much you could see as an immortal before you grew completely desensitized to everything, and this time was one of them. Yi Fan didn't ask questions, wrapping and arm around Jongdae's throat and heaving him off Minseok. 

"Yi Fan, wait-"

The warning came a split second too late and Yi Fan could only let out a pained wheeze as Jongdae's elbow hammered into his ribs, the cop - correction: the  _vampire_ \- tearing out of his grasp. Yi Fan and Minseok circled him warily, waiting for the slightest hint of movement. Muffled cracking came from Minseok's wrist, his bones shifting themselves back to their places, skin knitting together again. Jongdae stayed silent, but it seemed like his outburst was over. 

Jongdae tilted his head, and in that moment, Minseok couldn't recognise him at all. It was like someone else was using his face, his body, because he'd never seen Jongdae tilt his head like that, never saw him roll his weight back on one foot and clasp his hands behind his back. He never expected Jongdae to speak, but he did, and it was in a horribly flat, dead tone.

"The rogues send their regards." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was kind of a short chapter... the next one is kind of long I'm not really sure what I'm doing (chapters are 5-10k long *shrugs*)  
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed it and see you next week as always :)  
> Comments! Kudos!


	12. Falling Petals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screams in chogiwa language*  
> ALRIGHT I've added more tags the most important of which is: Organ theft  
> I'm really not sure how I'm going to categorise what I write because it's going to come up quite a few times so... yeah  
> *still a tag newbie sorry*

“Minseok –”

“Give me a second.” Minseok held up his finger and Yi Fan subsided, bringing his phone to his ear. It rang once. Twice. They heard Joonmyun stir in his room, their nest pitch dark. After several more rings, Yixing picked up the phone.

“Hello? Minseok?” The medic’s voice was slow and clumsy, it was just past six in the morning after all.

“Have you slept at all?”

“I’m still at the morgue with Jongin, Minseok listen – I think Sehun’s case is the same as all the missing people now.” Something shuffled on his end and Minseok wondered if he and Jongin had napped using stacks of reports as pillows. “But the problem is that they’re classified under the normal police force’s jurisdiction and I can’t get any more decent information.” A pause, then Jongin was speaking instead.

“Jongdae still hasn’t shown up by the way.”

Yi Fan saw Minseok’s eyebrows twitch downwards minutely before smoothing out into a blank slate. “I’ve found him, but he’s not with me.”

“You have!? Where –”

“He’s been turned and put under a mirage.”

Deathly silence followed, then Jongin’s explosive “Fuck!” blew through the line. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to drop the news on them while they were sleep deprived. Before they could both start freaking out Minseok asked. “Do you know if Tao has been around recently?”

“We still aren’t allowed to see him. Why?”

“He texted Yi Fan to meet him at Jangmi today.”

“That’s not possible, we tried to contact him too but Ziwei’s got his phone.”

“I can’t just ignore it.” Yi Fan spoke up. Behind them, Joonmyun slipped out of his room with Kyungsoo right behind him, both blinking sleep from their eyes.

“We’re heading back to headquarters now and we’ll check if Tao is still there, don’t leave before we know.” Pause. “Minseok what about Dae –”

“One thing at a time Xing, or we’ll drown.”

\---

Yixing and Jongin slipped into headquarters just as the first traces of orange were tinging the clouds of the dark blue sky. Their breaths misted and Jongin shivered, the clothes he wore too thin for late autumn. The active squads were just finished with patrol and the office floor was busy with captains filing reports. It was strange to see Minseok’s desk empty, folders and papers left untouched in their neat places. 

The other cops avoided them, clearing out of their way and refusing to meet their gaze. That wasn’t so surprising, considering their own squad had consisted firstly of a medic with a soft spot for leeches, then a captain who _was_ a leech and the director’s son. To top it all off, Jongdae dropped off the radar and what a nuclear mess it would be if they found out what happened to him. 

The two stand in the midst of it all helplessly, so alone amongst their co-workers. Then Jongin’s eyes caught on a young trainee tagging behind the others.

“Hey!”

Her head jerked up, startled, and recognition flooded her face. Jongin jogged up to her and smiled as charmingly as he could with panda eyes and maybe two hours of sleep.

“Irene right?”

The trainee nodded shyly. She looked a lot better than the last time he saw her, it seemed like the shock of Mark’s squad had worn off.

“Have you seen Tao?”

Irene hesitated slightly, then she shook her head. Her gaze slipped guiltily to the side when one of her mentors approached, wordlessly putting a hand on her shoulder to lead her away. She resisted for a second, taking the opportunity to clutch at Jongin’s shirt. “He left with Miss Huang half an hour ago.”

\---

Jangmi was as silent as the dead that lay under its soil, but the scent that sliced through the morning air sent Yi Fan’s head spinning. Blood. Fresh. And it was so, so familiar.

_They had hung her body in the forest, on the outskirts of town, still clad in the clothes she’d died in. Her favourite dress was made of silk, complete with an elaborate sash and embroidery befitting someone of her status in that era. It used to be white. When Yi Fan found her, it was red._

Where was it coming from? There was no one standing by the graves. Yi Fan flitted around, following the terribly sweet scent. After he started laying down white roses, the caretaker for the cemetery abandoned his post in fear. His house still stood, old and decrepit. Yi Fan opened the door - and even though it shouldn’t have - the door knob felt cold under his fingertips.

_He was too late, the execution was done. It was very specific, those who willingly gave their blood to the monsters would die without a drop in their veins. The body was left without a proper burial, left for the animals to maul, and their tombstone would be blank._

Tao’s eyes were blank, the one thing Yi Fan could focus on. The rest was a blur of red. Tao was wearing black, and it looked like he had been standing under heavy rain. Yi Fan fell to his knees beside him, unmindful of the blood pooled all over the floor.

_He stayed frozen for what seemed like an eternity, watching her body sway on the rope. She never smiled much in life, but her throat grinned open –_

Him. Not her. It was Tao lying dead in his own blood and Yi Fan was too late. Again. Yi Fan cupped the back of his head gently, face a frozen mask of neutrality. Then he hugged Tao to him, cradling his head in his arms, and his expression crumpled. His eyes burned and he was dimly aware of wetness trailing down his cheeks, blood dripping off his chin to mix with Tao’s.

“Tao.” The body was still warm. Yi Fan stroked gently over Tao’s cheek, someone had taken off the gauze and his claw marks stood out starkly against unnaturally pale skin.

“Please.” He closed Tao’s eyes. _Please. Not again. I can’t do this again._

_But you did. **You** got Jiazi killed. Now it’s Tao._

“I love him so please –” Yi Fan choked on his tears, remembering how bright Tao was when he laughed, his determined look when he was on the job, the intensity with which he took everything. Footsteps came up behind him, but Yi Fan couldn’t bring himself to care, not even when the scent of silver cut through that of Tao’s blood and the click of a gun broke the silence. The woman behind him sounded bored.

“I thought you’d be more interesting.”

\---

Yi Fan was much faster than Minseok was, and by the time Minseok reached Jangmi, he knew something was very, very wrong.

 

“No!” He slammed into her, jostling her aim, unsure whether his shout was meant for Yi Fan or Ziwei or Tao or all three of them at once. His fangs dropped, eyes swirling red as he ripped the air with his claws. A swipe caught over her shoulder, but the scent of her blood was drowned out by the scent of Tao’s and Minseok could only hear one beating heart. 

Minseok snarled, furious because he had _promised_ , he had promised Tao he wasn’t going to leave him, but he did and now Tao was dead and lying in a pool of his own blood – and Yi Fan looked like he wanted to follow him. Minseok caught her around the neck and _squeezed_ with every intent to kill. He didn't quite get there before the tread of feet from outside had him grabbing Yi Fan, coaxing him to his feet with Tao’s body clutched in his arms. Minseok practically shoved them out of the door, managing one last glance at Ziwei, coughing on the ground, before a sunbomb went off and seared the vision out of his eyes. 

He hoped Yi fan had ducked behind the house or something because she had brought a squad with her and Minseok couldn’t see shit. A rustle of metal – Minseok dove out of the way. They brought nets too. A hand tapped his shoulder, not warm so it must be Yi Fan.

“Min – this way.”

Blindly, he followed Yi Fan’s footsteps, dodging what he could hear until his sight started to fade back. They were at the end of the cemetery, Yi Fan was still holding Tao. Abruptly, the light around them brightened, making him squint. Dawn must have broken. The squad was getting closer.

“Yi Fan we need to move.”

No reply.

“ _Yi Fan_.”

Yi Fan’s gaze snapped up to meet his. “I can’t.”

“Yes you can. You’re getting Tao out of here, I’m not letting him rest here.”

Yi Fan stared at him for a heartbeat, tears still sliding down his cheeks, then his eyes flicked back to Tao. He nodded. Minseok sighed in relief.

“Ok. Get over the fence.”

 

Yi Fan didn’t know how they got back to the nest, didn’t know what happened between then and now, but when Minseok turned away to leave him alone in his grief, Tao’s head cradled in his lap, he managed to push the only coherent thought that spun in his head past his lips.

“Would he have wanted to?”

Minseok studied him carefully. “He would have wanted to live.”

Yi Fan’s fangs slid past gum and he lifted his wrist. One short, brutal movement slashed through his skin, cold blood splattering through the air. He watched red drip steadily into Tao’s mouth. Tao hadn’t been dead for long. He didn’t know if it was still too late but –

“If he doesn’t wake up, I’m following him.”

Minseok stayed silent, only nodding his head. He was about to leave when Yi Fan spoke again.

“And if he wakes up but begs me to end him I will.” Yi Fan’s eyes didn’t leave Tao’s face. “And I will beg you to end me too.”

 

Minseok left the nest with a heavy heart, shaking his head at Joonmyun and Kyungsoo’s solemn faces.

“We can’t do more but wait.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Jongin. Come with me.”

“Like hell I am.”

“My uncle has called for you.” Ziwei raised a delicate eyebrow and Jongin fought the urge to throw up. Minseok had called over an hour ago and how Ziwei could smile and laugh after killing her own cousin, Jongin would never understand. He hoped those bruises on her neck burned like hellfire.

“The director?”

“I believe I only have one uncle in headquarters.”

“Fine.” He shook off her hand. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”

Ziwei held her hands up innocently, a hurt expression on her face. “Touchy, touchy.”

 

He never really understood how Tao felt whenever he was summoned to the director’s office, but he was pretty sure this was it. The grey door stared at him, daring him to touch it, to knock on it. He knocked.

“Come in.”

Jongin opened the door. The director was seated behind his desk as always; greying hair, greying skin, greying eyes, it gave off a steely coldness that raised goosebumps on Jongin’s arms. 

“Sit down.”

Jongin sat. Tao would have taken this seat whenever he came in. Jongin tried not to think about that. He hoped Yixing was ok down in the medical bay.

“You called me, sir?”

“Do you know a Do Kyungsoo?”

Jongin’s blood went cold in his veins. “Yes. He is a classmate.”

“And?”

“A friend.”

The sound of Ziwei’s heels on the floor circled behind his chair. How did she change out of hunting gear so quickly? “Did you know that he had been spotted in Goyang before?”

“He came from Goyang.”

“Yes, but I found his face from the feeding rings.”

 _How? I checked his name. I checked his alias. There was absolutely nothing on him_ –

“Under the name Kim Seungsoo.” Ziwei’s heels stopped, her next question blunt. “Did you know he was a vampire?”

“No.”

“How old is he?”

“Twenty two.”

“Did you let him feed from you?”

“I didn’t know he was a vampire.”

“So you _did_ let him feed from you?”

“ _No._ ”

“Why did you bring him into the hospital?”

Jongin pursed his lips together. Caught. Oh _shit_. He wasn’t left too long floundering because someone was slamming a fist against the door. Yixing practically screamed.

“I brought the vampires in!”

It took a second to register what Yixing had said, then Jongin’s jaw dropped. Yixing what –

“I knew he was a vampire.”

_Yixing what are you doing shut up –_

“Jongin didn’t know anything.”

\---

Chanyeol seemed to have reverted back to their more traditional sleeping schedule, and for someone used to solitude, Luhan felt too cramped in his own nest. He left Chanyeol curled up on the couch with Baekhyun sitting next to him, somehow still awake after who knows how long. 

The first brush of morning air over Luhan’s face had his eyes sharpening in red. Sehun. He could smell Sehun’s blood. He left his facemask behind but fuck it. 

 

He was at full speed, senses filled with that familiar scent and a growing dread, when another cold body rocketed from one of the side roads and bowled him over. Luhan snarled, nearly throwing the other vampire off him before he realized –

“Minseok what the _fuck_ –”

More soft steps and then Joonmyun and Kyungsoo were peering down at them in concern. Minseok got to his feet, pulling Luhan up with him. “Did you smell him too?”

“Yes. That’s why. Can we stop talking and go after – where’s Yi Fan?”

“He’s… with Tao.”

Luhan’s forehead wrinkled then smoothed in understanding. “Will Tao make it?”

“We don’t know.”

Kyungsoo cleared his throat, preparing himself for the very painful bomb he was about to drop. “Also. Sehun’s missing.”

Chilled silence met his words. Then Luhan asked very, very slowly. “Since when?”

“Jongin and I visited his apartment last night and it was messed up. You said he hadn’t answered any of your calls and – wait!”

Luhan had bolted off. The rest of them chased after him, the scent of Sehun’s blood intensifying around them. “Lu –”

Luhan stopped and turned to hiss back at them. “You had the whole night! And you’re only telling me about Sehun _now_?”

“We were a little preoccupied –”

“So do we know where he is?”

“No but Yixing said that there is a good probability he’s been kidnapped by the same person who’s been kidnapping all the kidnapped people.” Kyungsoo snatched Luhan’s arm before he could run off again. “I said _wait_ – there’s every possibility that AVPF somehow got to Sehun and they’re trying to get to you like they did with Yi Fan, we need to be _calm_.”

“Sehun could be dead!”

Minseok put his hand on Luhan’s shoulders, all of them half ready for Luhan to break away again. “And if we don’t do this carefully, you will be too.” Finally, Luhan subsided, shoulders falling limp.

“Fine. What are we doing?”

\---

“What are you doing?” Jongin yelled, multiple hands holding him back as he watched Yixing get hauled out of the director’s office. What the hell did Yixing say during the ten minutes he spent in that office to trigger this!?

“Yixing!”

The medic didn’t hear him, already disappearing from view. With a grunt, Jongin kicked back with the heel of his foot, heard someone hiss in pain, then he was breaking away from their grip and wrenching open the director’s door. To hell with knocking.

“Where is Yixing going?”

“Dr Zhang has been charged for fraternizing with vampires and collusion on several accounts.” Ziwei blocked the director from his view, primly adjusting her collar. “He had refused to reveal more information on the case so he is to be confined until further notice.”

“What? Where?”

“That is none of your concern, Jongin.”

“Like hell it’s not –”

“Unless you want to join him.”

Jongin’s hand clenched so hard he was sure he’d drawn blood. Then he whirled, furiously storming away and down the stairs.

 

Jongin reached ground floor just in time to see Yixing get marched out of headquarters, held between two officers. The medic glanced back, eyes widening when he saw Jongin. You could see the exact moment when Yixing’s resolve clicked. The medic shifted his weight and shoved, breaking out of his escorters’ grip and bursting back through the doors. They were after him in an instant, but by then Yixing had gripped Jongin by the arms, holding Jongin in place with his intense, desperate gaze.

“You and Sehun should not be under suspicion any longer.”

“ _Xing_ –”

“But they’re still watching you.” They started to pull Yixing away, and the medic was towed back out after one last hissed whisper. _"Be careful.”_

\---

They were as still as statues, surveying the scene before them. It wasn’t much of a scene, just some abandoned warehouse set behind rows of old and peeling markets on the fringes of Seoul. What had them so riveted was the figure waiting for them. It’s hand was covered in blood – Sehun’s blood, Luhan could smell it – but beside him Minseok could do nothing but look at the figure’s face. Minseok’s voice was too loud.

“Jongdae.”

Jongdae’s head lifted lazily from studying the red coating his fingers, his expression the same flat, robotic mask that had haunted Minseok since yesterday. Then he reached into his pocket for a blood-stained piece of paper, offering it to them. Behind Minseok, Kyungsoo swore softly, Joonmyun and Luhan shifting uneasily on their feet. He had already told them he couldn’t remove the mirage, but they had tried anyways. The vampire they were up against, whatever thing that led the rogues, was older than Minseok. By a lot.

 

It was Joonmyun who took the note and Luhan stopped breathing, his head spinning with the sudden spike of Sehun’s scent, the staleness of it making his chest clench in dread. Like this, it was so easy to imagine the human dead. Joonmyun unfolded the note.

“The…” Joonmyun’s eyes scanned the paper. He hesitated. “Sehun is with them. If we don’t give them Yi Fan and Tao, both Sehun and Jongdae –” Luhan snatched the note from him – uninterested in Joonmyun’s censored, sugar-coated version – but couldn’t bring himself to read it aloud. 

_The human is with us. The sucker cop put up a good fight though. He screamed for you. Give us the vampire and the cop who attacked our coven, or we’ll send your poor sweethearts back in pieces._

Luhan dropped the note, joining the others in their wary study of Jongdae. The miraged vampire reached down again and they tensed as he slowly unsheathed his stake. Minseok didn’t know how that was still with him. Then Jongdae flipped his grip on the handle so it was pointed towards his own heart. They all took a step forward in panic, only to freeze solid when the stake stabbed down, now pressing dangerously against Jongdae’s chest. Slowly, Minseok back off and the others followed, sighing in relief when the stake moved further away. The message was clear.

_Follow and he’ll die._

Helplessly, Minseok watched Jongdae disappear out of the warehouse, rounding instantly on his coven members. They all had the same idea.

“Give him a head start. _Then_ we’ll follow him.”

\---

Jongin forced air through his nose. Hold it for four seconds. Breathe out for six seconds. Wait. Inhale again. He had his phone unlocked but… Jongin tossed it onto his bed. His room felt so empty now he knew Tao wasn’t going to come back to it. He went through his motions, strapping on a stake to his thigh, throwing on a jacket, putting on shoes. Huh. He never got to buy new ones last Sunday.

 

He left his phone behind. There wasn’t any point in hiding from the cameras around headquarters, so he walked out the front entrance with his head held high. The plan was simple. Get to Yonsei University. Walk around until he bumped into Kyungsoo. Easy.

 

Not easy. Jongin wasn’t even halfway there when he had to take a detour. Why? He shot a glance over his shoulder. It was the same guy hanging around the front of headquarters that just turned the corner after him. He stopped to let the man pass him. Then he backtracked, took turns randomly. He didn’t recognize the guy, but he wouldn’t put it past Ziwei to have someone follow him. 

Jongin wasn’t as good as Tao in detecting the presence of vampires, but this one was easy. Too quiet. Too still for that time in the morning. Even as he watched a lady walk her dog onto the street, the dog snapped and barked furiously, trying to bolt back the way it came. It didn’t feel like Kyungsoo did. He looked behind him. No one. He kept walking, hand slipping into his pocket and closing around a sunbomb. He looked back again, and this time, red eyes stared back not an inch from his own. 

He choked on his gasp of surprise, the breath knocked out of him as something cold smacked into his chest and sent him flying backwards. The skin of his palms tore when he set them on the pavement to scramble to his feet. Jongin pulled the sunbomb free from his pocket. He was knocked back down before he could flick off the trigger. 

Fingers fisted his hair and Jongin caught a flash of movement before a knee cracked into his head. He crumpled, ears ringing and gaze unfocused, fumbling unsuccessfully for his stake. Cold fingers pushed him down. Jongin thought the hit must have really messed something up internally because he just got his first decent look at his attacker and it was…

“Jongdae get off me.”

No reply. Oh wait. He forgot. Mirage. Jongin wasn’t given time to get up before Jongdae was dragging him away, heels scraping on the road. Jongdae was completely one-minded, seemingly with the intent of taking Jongin somewhere. Jongin didn’t want to find out where.

 

Any cop without more than one sunbomb on them would have died on their first mission, and Jongdae hadn’t paid any attention to Jongin’s writhing before so… Jongin screwed his eyes shut and reached behind him, head still throbbing, to trigger the bomb. It’s intense white light filtered red behind his eyelids. 

Jongdae let go, eerily quiet. Jongin was used to vampires screaming, screeching in pain, but Jongdae just collapsed, covered in burns. With everything happening at once, Jongin had forgotten something else. Mirage or no, Jongdae was like two days old in vampire terms and must still have been getting used to being dead. 

Jongin hesitated, torn between his prone friend and getting the hell out of there. It was a couple of seconds of stillness too long, because Jongdae started to get up again. Jongin fled.

\---

Kyungsoo supposed this must have been what Luhan felt when he caught Sehun’s scent. His heart felt like it had stopped again, somehow on the edge of death once more. Jongin was close by – his scent was so strong – and what fucked everything up was that this was the same way Jongdae had gone. 

Jongin’s footsteps were loud, panicked, and it acted like a homing beacon. He supposed he shouldn’t have just popped up in front of Jongin so suddenly, for the cop registered the too-fast flash of movement and reacted in a heartbeat, stake arcing down dangerously.

“Woah! Woah, it’s me.” Kyungsoo zeroed in on the ripped skin of Jongin's palms, the swelling on his forehead.

Jongin’s eyes widened, his words tripping over themselves. “Jo – Jong – Jongdae, I saw him.” By then, Minseok and the others had caught up and Jongin surprised them by turning on Joonmyun instead.

“AVPF figured out who you were, I think the only one they don’t know is Luhan, but they tried to pin it on me and Yixing took the blame and they took him away and I’ve been trying to look for you but Jongdae –”

“Jongin – Jongin look at me.” Minseok gently grasped his shoulders, rubbing gently, and even though he wasn’t Jongin’s captain anymore, the calming effect stayed. “Alright, it’s ok. Breathe.”

 _Hold it for four seconds. Breathe out for six seconds. Wait. Inhale again._ Back when he was a trainee, when almost everything terrified him, Minseok was the one who taught him how to breathe. Kyungsoo hovered nervously at his elbow. The next time Jongin spoke, it was coherent.

“AVPF figured out you were vampires.”

 

* * *

 

 

Baekhyun hated to leave Chanyeol's side, even for a moment, but it couldn't be helped. Chanyeol wouldn't leave the nest during day time anyways and it was just past noon. After pressing a kiss to his sleeping mate’s forehead, Baekhyun carefully peeked out, listening hard for any stray heartbeats. They couldn’t afford to lose another nest. Not when they were (hopefully…) adding one more to the coven by tomorrow. Then again, the other option was losing one. Baekhyun couldn’t be certain, but he was confident in a twisted way that Yi Fan wouldn’t survive a replay of what happened so long ago.

He was the last one to the gathering. How typical. Still last even without Chanyeol. This time however, no jokes were thrown around, no suggestive smirks. As he lowered himself into the nest he was aware of another anomaly: a heartbeat. Baekhyun spotted Jongin on the couch next to Kyungsoo, looking extremely uneasy in the dim light of someone's phone. 

He tried not to pay attention to what he could smell from Yi Fan’s room. He guessed Joonmyun must have wanted to leave Yi Fan out of things for now, but with that state things were, that could do more harm than good. Yi Fan didn’t need to say anything, and he would be able to hear them just fine.

 

“So…” Baekhyun eyes flickered nervously over everyone’s frozen forms, “what do we know?”

“When I contacted Yixing this morning, he said he suspected Sehun had been captured by the same person who’s been abducting civilians since the beginning of this month.”

“Where’s Xing now?”

Joonmyun’s mouth tightened and Baekhyun regretted his question instantly. “He’s been detained by AVPF, apparently he took the hit for both Jongin and Sehun, but Jongin is almost definitely under watch.”

Luhan frowned. “What Yixing said isn’t enough to confirm that the kidnapper and the rogues are working together though –”

“Two of the missing people were found, Yixing called me in to check. I could smell another vampire off them easily.”

“What state were the bodies in?”

Baekhyun saw Joonmyun purse his lips, the information leaving his lips reluctantly. “Sehun will probably be kept alive, but the bodies had human bite marks all over their necks and the first one had some of its organs removed.”

Jongin’s heartrate picked up.

“So the rogues are in league with the serial kidnapper. That’s just _wonderful_.”

“And the rogues want us to hand over Yi Fan and Tao, or they’ll kill Sehun and Jongdae.” Minseok was the only one not sitting down, and he started to pace in the cramped space. “We are obviously not complying, but the only way to get to Sehun and Dae is… the current problem.”

Jongin’s whisper was extremely loud, hoarser than the vampires’ tones, and their heads snapped around to look at him. “Um… Actually I was thinking…” He stuttered to a stop, heart thumping unevenly in the silence, nervously cringing into Kyungsoo’s side. Poor kid, probably his first time absolutely surrounded by mankind’s deadliest predator. Baekhyun was surprised he hadn’t bolted yet. Then again, Yixing hadn’t. He watched as Kyungsoo leaned down to murmur soothingly in Jongin’s ear, an illusion of privacy Jongin fell for.

“It’s ok. You’re doing fine, just tell us.”

Jongin breathed shakily, his heartbeat calming down a notch, and avoided their unsettlingly still gazes by staring down at his lap. “One of the things we use to catch vampires are trackers. Tao used one to follow the rogues in Sosa.”

They waited patiently for him to scrape himself together.

“Trackers are small, smaller than my thumbnail.” He gulped. “I could swallow one easily and no one would be able to find it.”

Dead silence. Then realisation clicked and Kyungsoo was shaking his head. “No. No, you’re not going to let yourself get caught. We don’t even know if you’ll be taken to the same place.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

“Anything else but _that_.”

“The rogues are around Mapo.” Baekhyun’s interjection jarred their conversation to a standstill. “Right?”

Joonmyun nodded.

“When Chanyeol first got caught.” Baekhyun didn’t miss the way Jongin tensed guiltily at his statement. “One of them approached me. Asked me to join them.”

“You’re crazy, there’s no way they’ll believe you –”

“No Lu, listen. I’ve been holed up with Yeol for most of the time, they’ve barely seen me with you guys. I can just say that I’ve had enough with your peaceful bullshit or something, tell them Yeol’s dead and they’ll believe me.”

“Can you really leave Yeol alone? Can you leave your mate behind?” Luhan crossed his arms, the hollow feeling in his chest where Sehun’s presence once resided more apparent than ever. He couldn’t begin to fathom what Baekhyun felt, and Baekhyun was still offering to do this insanely risky plan that could end up with him dead.

Baekhyun thought for a long moment, the only sound was that of Jongin’s measured breaths. “I could bring him with me. I could say that whatever you guys are doing, it isn’t enough and Chanyeol needs to feed more. I could take one of Jongin’s trackers with me and as soon as we find the place, you'll know too and we can get Sehun.” He paused. “And Jongdae.”

The rest of them considered it, averse to agreeing with the idea. But it was honestly the best one they’d have. Minseok turned to Jongin.

“Could you somehow get us several of those trackers?”

“It should be easy, I’m squadless right now so I’m getting sent on odd surveying jobs only. I’m getting sent to the feeding rings again, they want to find out where some vampires are coming from. I’ll be able to get some for sure.”

“When are you going?” Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow.

“Tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there too.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I know.”

Jongin flushed, eyes dropping back to his knees. “I’ll also try and visit Yixing. He’s probably being held at Mapo hospital.”

“Is he hurt?”

“No! No he’s fine.” Jongin raised his palms, placating Joonmyun. “It’s just that AVPF usually keeps the feeders and humans under mirage in one of the wards.”

“But he’s not –”

“The ward is for anyone that’s forcefully or willfully worked with a vampire.” Jongin tapped his head. "They're considered mentally unsound."

“Oh…”

Minseok shook his head, knowing Joonmyun’s question before he said it. “No Joon. You almost definitely won’t make it in without detection. Ziwei probably spotted your face along with Kyungsoo’s and Baekhyun’s when you went to the morgue.”

Baekhyun popped onto his feet, stretched exaggeratedly. “So. When will I be infiltrating?” He quirked his lips in a mischievous smile so similar to his normal self that the mood lightened immediately. “The sooner the better right? So I’ll go as soon as I can.”

 

Somehow, everyone silently agreed on squeezing into Luhan’s nest tonight. Baekhyun loitered behind, standing outside Yi Fan’s door. He knocked once, softly, before he spoke.

“Yi Fan. I won’t be able to meet our newest family member tomorrow, but say hi to him for me okay?”

Nothing. The lack of anything made Baekhyun feel so helpless. There was every probability that Tao wouldn’t wake up come morning, there was no telling if Yi Fan had started the turning in time. And if Tao didn’t wake up… Baekhyun swallowed.

“Good bye Yi Fan. See you sometime.”

He couldn’t be sure, but just as he was pulling himself out of the nest a whisper reached his ears.

“Good luck Baek.”

\---

“If you get dragged off somewhere too, I’m going in there to drag you back out.”

“Kyungsoo.” Jongin sighed, smiling at the vampire. “I’ll be fine.”

“Say that when you don’t have a massive bruise on your face.”

Jongin’s hand jumped to his forehead, brushing the bruise that bloomed out from his hairline. Must have been where Jongdae kneed him. He winced.

“I’ll go back to HQ to put some ice on it.”

“The rogues are out for you too. They’d want you the same way they wanted Sehun and Jongdae.”

“I promise.” Jongin held out his pinky. Kyungsoo stared at it.

“What?”

“You’re supposed to use your pinky to hook my pinky and we make a promise.”

Kyungsoo obeyed, still a little confused, and they twined their fingers together tightly.

“Alright. I promise I’ll be careful and I won’t get caught.”

Kyungsoo thought for a second, looking so serious that Jongin had to fight down a laugh. “I promise to save you if you break your promise.”

Their joined hands lingered for a second as they stared at each other. Then, at the same time, they let each other’s fingers slip from their grasps.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

\---

“Joon. Please. Freak out now where we’re not in the enclosed space of my nest.” Luhan eyed his friend warily, the deceptive stillness of his face all too familiar. Joonmyun looked like he was having a migraine and vampires couldn’t even _get_ migraines.

“I’m not going to freak out.”

“Please freak out.” Baekhyun patted him on the back. “If you freak out in there you’ll wake Yeol.”

“I’m not –”

Minseok squeezed his hand. “Joon.”

It was like watching a shaken coke bottle build up.

“What’s going to happen to Yixing?” Joonmyun exploded, his own grip on Minseok’s hand tightening almost painfully. “He’s not going to get executed is he? Would they test him for traces of venom? I _bit_ him less than a day ago…”

Minseok went along with him, taking a spare facemask from his pocket and handing it to Joonmyun, hooking his own over his features. Joonmyun didn’t stop talking.

“– he didn’t tell them everything they wanted, they won’t torture him will they –”

Minseok mouthed the word _coffee_ back at Baekhyun and Luhan as he steered Joonmyun away. “He’ll be ok Joon.”

\---

Yixing sat on the bed provided, staring glumly around his almost painfully white room. Well, it was more like a cell. He had spent so long seeing these cells from the outside, but he never realised how disgustingly boring it was until he was inside. If people weren’t mad before, they’d certainly be mad after months confined here. Or maybe it was just himself. 

His gaze shifted restlessly over the blank walls. Within the first hour of his arrival, he had deduced that the cell must have been freshly repainted – maybe last week? – because there was a pristine newness to it, accompanied by a fading smell. The painters did a good job, but they’d missed a bit on the corner. Yixing could see the faded remains of some writing, hidden behind a too-thin layer of new paint. He wished he hadn’t spotted that so soon. The lack of stimulation was uncomfortable, acutely so to him.

 

He supposed it was past noon, and in several minutes his guess was validated. He could hear someone rolling a trolley down the ward, pushing trays through a slit in the door. Yixing wondered idly if he would be able to distinguish all its ingredients. The trolley came closer… closer… and skipped him completely. 

Yixing closed his eyes briefly. Opened them again. So this was how the game will be played. Another minute or so and a note slipped into his room. He got off the bed to pick it up.

_Dr Zhang. Withholding important information from the police force is also a crime. You will tell us everything you know. I look forward to seeing how long you’ll last._

Yixing glanced at the water jug on the floor. Even if they didn’t refill it, he estimated he could last for more than a week. After that would be a stretch and he’d be weak. Hopefully, Jongin has told Joonmyun. In the likely event that he has, Yixing didn’t think he’d have to last so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand things will get better now. This... this was rock bottom. Let's go up now yayyyyy :)  
> CoMmEnTs! KuDoS! <3


	13. Preserved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. This is late. I've rewritten this chapter like 6 times. *chokes to death on words*  
> WARNING: This chapter is a lot gorier than before so be warned!  
> Enjoy :3

Yixing’s head throbbed, an achy numbness that resided deep in his brain. He felt drunk. The only problem was that he’d had nothing but water for the last day or so, confined to his cell in the hospital. Where was he? This couldn't have had anything to do with Ziwei. She was going to starve him out and as intimidating that sounded, Yixing hadn't been afraid because he knew her plan, he knew how it was going to be played. She had no reason to stray from her plan either. So what the hell happened to him? 

“Get up.” The voice made him groan, sensitive ears ringing. His headache spiked. When he tried to raise his hands to rub at his forehead, he realized his hands were tied together. He cracked open his eyes and light stabbed into his brain.

Someone was dragging him upright, sending the world around him spinning. This was not the hospital room he had been confined to. Nausea curled in his gut, quickly dissipating into cold, sharp fear. The fingers around his arms were cold too. Not the calming coolness he had come to associate with Joonmyun but something much more malicious in intent. Yixing finally managed to focus on a face. Red eyes. Yixing snapped his own closed again.

“I know you’re awake little human.”

He felt himself get spun around, back colliding with a wall. The impact almost had him crumpling. Where was he? Definitely not in the hospital ward anymore. But why?

A new voice. “Hey! I said we didn’t have any more guest rooms – oooh.” A hand, warm this time, replaced the vampire’s. “This one is pretty.”

“You can’t have this one.”

Yixing forced himself to open his eyes again, jerking back when he realized how close the other man was to him. Average-looking, wearing the hospital nurse uniform. His gaze flicked around him. Long corridor. Doors to either side. Most of them were closed. It looked like a hospital ward, except there were no doors where the corridor ended. Then the man’s lips split over his teeth in an insane smile that sent a shiver down Yixing’s spine.

“But I want this one.”

“Well, you can mess with him if you want. Just don’t kill him.”

With his hands bound and a vampire staring him down, Yixing was helpless as the man dipped down to nose at his jawline. Teeth, blunt ones, scraped over the skin on his neck and something in Yixing clicked. He knew exactly who the man was. He’d seen the bodies, the bite marks.

Yixing’s back arched off the wall as he twisted, movements clumsy and unbalanced. There wasn't an exit in sight. He didn’t care, running down the corridor instead, anything to put distance between himself and the kidnapper. The vampire – the rogue – didn’t even come close to the levels of threat Yixing felt from him. He ducked into an open room. Slammed the door shut and put his back against it. It was only then did he get a good look of what he stumbled into.

The medic stared blankly for a second. It was like he was back at the morgue, taking white sheets off corpses to study. Except this wasn’t the morgue, and the body on the table was much fresher. Blood dripped onto the floor steadily. Drip… Drip…

Someone knocked on the door, vibrations travelling through the metal into Yixing’s back.

Drip… the smell of it was terrible… Drip…

“Open up!” He sounded like a friendly neighbor.

Drip… bitemarks… Dri – the door was flung open, shoving Yixing forwards. With severely reduced balance on top of his still pounding head, he almost tripped onto the body, stopping himself at the last second by bracing his elbows on the table. Blood soaked into his sleeve. The corpse’s dead gaze held his for a heartbeat, then he was yanked back by the collar into a cold grip, watching as the human rolled the body off the table and it landed with a sickening thump. _They’re going to put me there._ Yixing screamed and kicked, but he was hauled up anyways. He felt like throwing up. That could possibly be the headache but Yixing doubted it.

The vampire straddled his waist, a literal dead weight, and pinned his wrists to the table. Yixing could only thrash his head, more cooled blood seeping through the back of his shirt. The dead man’s blood. Hot fingers held his hand still. Hot and cold. It didn’t really matter which one it was because whichever Yixing felt, he could only writhe in fear. He craned his neck to see what the hell the human was doing. He only caught a flash of metal, then pain exploded through his finger tip. The pointer finger. Yixing didn’t even have time to scream before the same excruciating ripping sensation took over the next finger and he passed out.

\---

Jongin danced to forget. It was almost past midnight, completely dark outside the haven of his practice room. He usually would have stopped by now, eager to rest his aching muscles, but today he let it consume him, forced himself to keep going because he could feel the events of the past weeks creeping up on him, lurking over his shoulder. They would pounce and devour him as soon as the music faded away and the beats no longer throbbed through his body. 

He rolled through the same set of moves for the – how many times was it again? – that night, every step, every flourish, perfect and neat. Perspiration dripped into his eyes. At least when the rest of his dance team meets up tomorrow the coach won’t be able to pick on him. Then again, they’d always find something to pick on. Jongin spun once, catching his poised reflection in the mirror. He twirled again, keeping track of his reflection. Then he fell over with a surprised yelp. A blurry figure stood in the doorway with a plastic bag in hand. Jongin lifted his head to see the real thing.

“Soo! A warning would be nice.”

“Isn’t it a bit late to be doing this?”

Jongin shrugged, turning down the volume of his music so they could hear each other better. Well, so _he_ could hear Kyungsoo better. It wasn’t like a vampire would have difficulty separating the sounds anyways. 

Kyungsoo closed the door behind him, setting the plastic bag on the floor and emptying its contents. Take-out fried chicken. Jongin’s stomach grumbled, irritated about missing dinner earlier that night.

“It’s gone cold by now.” Kyungsoo said apologetically, sitting down with his back to the mirror, surprised when Jongin took the spot of floor next to him rather than opposite him.

“Chicken can never go wrong.”

“Did you actually have anything nutritious today,” Kyungsoo checked his watch, “yesterday?”

“I had coffee?” Jongin got up before Kyungsoo could explode and reached for his bag. “Also I got the trackers.”

“Trackers aren’t nutritious.”

“They are nutritious for rogue-infiltration-plans.” He extracted a dozen of the thumbnail-sized, metal devices and tipped them into Kyungsoo’s hands. “Minseok will know how to use them.”

“So many?”

“Cops have it in the hundreds, they’re not going to miss so few.” Jongin picked up a piece of chicken and munched on it with a satisfied groan, “this is _so good_.”

Kyungsoo’s heart-shaped smile appeared, “Do you want me to bring some tomorrow?”

Oh yeah. Jongin almost forgot about the feeding rings for a second. Right. He was a cop. Job. Yes. “Crap. I was thinking of trying to visit Yixing again. They didn’t let me see him when I tried.”

Kyungsoo’s smile faltered, frown forming on his face. “Joon’s going to be so worried.”

 

They left shortly after, Kyungsoo insisting to walk Jongin part of the ways back to headquarters, swinging their clasped hands between them. They stopped several blocks away. With a jolt, Jongin realized he was actually taller than the vampire, that under all the fangs and red eyes and claws, Kyungsoo stood half a head shorter. He shivered slightly when Kyungsoo reached for his other hand and they faced each other, the light of streetlamps washing their faces white.

Both of them thought the same thing and acted on it at the same time. If only Jongin had hunched down, he probably wouldn’t have the guts to go through with it. If only Kyungsoo had tiptoed and tilted his head, he probably would have pulled away before they touched. But they moved together, meeting in the middle clumsily, noses bumping. Jongin stifled a laugh, then they brushed their lips together again, soft and chaste, smiling against each other. When Kyungsoo spoke, Jongin could feel his cool breath through parted lips.

“Don’t forget your promise.”

“I won’t.” Then, with a shy grin, Jongin pecked another kiss on Kyungsoo’s forehead and jogged away, reveling in this sense of freedom before AVPF could take it away from him again.

 

Kyungsoo watched until he turned a corner, disappearing from sight, then waited some more for Jongin’s footsteps to fade. He left with a foolishly happy expression, returning to Luhan’s nest. 

An envelope waited innocently on top of the manhole cover. Kyungsoo picked it up, immediately tensing as he picked up on the stench of vampires he had never met before. He didn’t want to open this. At least not out here.

When he got into the nest, he wasn’t surprised they were all waiting up for him. Minseok paced the floor, Joonmyun sat on the couch with Baekhyun, the latter with Chanyeol’s head on his lap. Luhan was probably in his room.

“I got the trackers from Jongin.” Kyungsoo tossed them to Baekhyun. One of them fell onto Chanyeol’s nose and he blinked at it curiously, almost gnawing on it before Baekhyun took it back.

“Great, we’ll head out now. See if we can join up with the rogues.”

Minseok stopped his pacing to pull out his phone, activating all of the trackers. Using all twelve of them was overkill, but overkill in this situation was a good thing. “Alright. Their position will show up on my map. When you’ve found where Sehun and Jongdae are, leave some trackers behind. After the trackers stop moving, we’ll go after them in a day or so.”

“This plan is full of problems but ok.”

Kyungsoo coughed for their attention. “Before you go, did you guys hear anything outside?”

Three pairs of eyes snap up to stare curiously and Luhan popped out of his room. “Other than autumn wind?”

“I found this outside.” He waved the envelope around and suddenly a new scent registered with his nose, emitted from the paper and fusing with the air. Kyungsoo froze, instantly regretting bringing the damned thing in with him. Joonmyun must have scented it too, because he was up and taking it from Kyungsoo’s fingers before anyone could stop him, ripping it open neatly and tipping out it’s contents. Two oval pieces of what looked like rusty, cream-coloured glass fell onto his palm. The scent intensified. And to the rest of them it wasn’t that strong, wasn’t as terrible, but they could see Joonmyun’s eyes widen in horror. Yixing’s fingernails.

 

“Joonmyun wait!” Minseok’s cry was only answered by the sound of the entrance slamming shut as Joonmyun bolted. “Fuck!”

They raced out after him, and even Chanyeol seemed to have some semblance of panic as they sped through the dark streets. Minseok cursed again, wishing Yi Fan was there with them. Luhan might be the strongest, every stride of his matching four of theirs, but Yi Fan was the fastest. Luhan caught up with Joonmyun first, snagging him around the waist.

“You can’t just go after him they’ll kill you!”

“I thought he was supposed to be in the _hospital_ –”

Kyungsoo got there next. “Joonmyun, calm down.”

“Why is he with the rogues!?”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol stood back cautiously. A panicking Joonmyun was an unpredictable Joonmyun and it had always freaked out the younger coven members when his usual composed primness broke. Luhan opened his mouth, about to try and soothe him again, when faint laughter reached their ears. Their heads snapped in the same direction at exactly the same time, completely still as they heard the whisper of vampire feet approaching.

\---

“Yixing! Oh my god there’s so much blood.” That voice was familiar. Yixing’s head still ached horribly, and this time it felt like the first two fingers of his right hand were on _fire_.

“Xing! Please, jesus _fuck_.” Was that… Sehun? “Fuck, fuck _your hand._ ”

For the second time that night, Yixing opened his eyes to agony and disorientation, taking several seconds to focus a face only centimetres from his.

“You’re awake. _Shit_ what do I do –”

“Nma blud.”

“What?”

“Not my blood.” Yixing enunciated his words carefully, wincing when his own voice set his headache off on another reel of throbbing. He flopped on the floor until Sehun realized what he was doing and helped him sit up. The dizziness doubled. Yixing blinked hard until the walls were no longer tilting to become the ceiling and the floor stayed as the floor. He waited a bit longer, just for that extra courage build-up, before he raised his hand. Bloody, ragged flesh gaped from where his first two fingernails were supposed to be. It was bleeding a little, but Yixing must have passed out for quite a while because the blood had gone tacky. “ _That’s_ my blood.”

Sehun’s sudden bark of laughter hurt Yixing’s ears. “Where are we?”

“I have no clue – um, I’m not the medic here but shouldn’t we like, cover up the wound?”

Sehun ended up tearing up his sleeve and wrapping a strip around Yixing’s two fingers, the rough contact on raw skin making Yixing grit his teeth and moan.

“Who’s blood is on your back?”

“I don’t know.” Yixing stopped himself from shaking his head at the last second, afraid of setting off another bout of dizziness. “Are you ok?”

“You just got your fucking fingernails ripped off and you’re asking me if I’m ok!?” If Yixing was stained red, Sehun was black and blue with bruises. But on his neck… Yixing’s stomach flipped in disgust, remembering the way their captor – the human one – had grinned at him.

“Have you cleaned out the bites?”

Sehun nodded. “I used drinking water. I hope they give us another bottle because there’s two of us now.”

Yixing nodded absently, stopping abruptly when his head throbbed in protest. "The rogues - wait! Have you seen Jongdae?"

"What happened to Dae? Is he here too?"

Yixing shifted to settle more comfortably against the wall and winced both at the spike of pain and the dread of what he had to say. 

\---

If Yi Fan had thought seven rogues were hell to deal with in Sosa, Baekhyun had no idea what he would think if he saw thirteen more surround them. All male. It was six – more like five because Chanyeol wasn’t exactly in fighting shape – against thirteen. There was no way they were fighting their way out of this one. Abruptly, the weight of the activated trackers in his pocket grew heavier. He wasn’t supposed to fight them. Not if he wanted a shot at finding out where Sehun and Jongdae, and now Yixing too, were being held. The board had been set. Now he just needed to play it. He hoped the others were game. 

The rogues spoke first, probably the leader. “Isn’t this a lovely night?”

“Fuck you.” Kyungsoo snarled, fangs and claws dropping.

Behind him, Joonmyun’s eyes swirled red, “what do you want?”

The rogue’s lips curled into a sharp smirk, his gaze sliding over them in turn. Baekhyun held his ground, trying not to stare back with hostility. My god, that was hard. “I thought we already sent you a message.” _Written in Sehun’s blood. Delivered by Jongdae._

“Like hell we’re giving Yi Fan and Tao over.” Luhan was coiled so tightly he looked like he was about to burst. “Where the hell are our friends?”

“Why the _hell,_ ” the rogue mocked, “are you friends with sucker cops and blood whores?”  
Luhan’s mouth dropped open in angry shock and the rogue laughed. “Isn’t that what your pretty little Sehun is? If you make us wait any longer we’ll be sending you his fingers, one by one. Oh, and also –” It ignored Luhan’s furious growl, turning straight for Baekhyun instead – “I see you have recovered your mate.”

Baekhyun pursed his lips. He needed to get the rogues to trust him, but how? What was he going to do? Whatever he decided on, he needed to do it quickly. Yixing’s fingernails will probably grow back - maybe malformed - but Sehun’s fingers won’t. 

The rogue’s smile split wider. “And of course, we’re taking care of Jongdae.” How had they learnt his name? Had they just forced it out of him through a mirage? Minseok stiffened, warily staring them down, but the coven surrounding theirs didn’t move an inch, eyes glinting with glee. “He told us all about you.” Unwillingly. “There’s one left isn’t there? Jongin was it?” The rogue got no further because with a vicious snap of fangs, Kyungsoo pounced.

 

Baekhyun forced himself to stay put, even as the rest of them backed Kyungsoo up, keeping a tight hold on Chanyeol’s hand. He wanted to fight. But this was a rare chance, maybe the only shot he’ll ever get, to join the rogues. He didn’t move when his friends were tackled and pinned to the road, impossibly outnumbered, and he hated himself for it. When the snarls and hisses died down, the rogues turned curious crimson gazes on him instead.

“Baek – what are you doing!?” With all eyes on Baekhyun, only Baekhyun noticed Luhan lower one eyelid in a wink. Great. At least one of them knew he was acting. It wasn’t going to make what he was going to say any easier though. With the least amount of emotion as possible, Baekhyun glared flatly at Luhan.

“What are _you_ doing?” Baekhyun had always been good at talking. If Luhan was the strongest and Yi Fan was the fastest. Baekhyun was the noisiest. He pointed at the leader rogue guy. “He’s right.”

Luhan scowled, but to someone who had known him for centuries, Baekhyun could tell it wasn’t malicious in the slightest. “Are you _mad_ –”

“ _You’re_ the one who’s mad.” The rogues were interested in this. What would the rogues say? What would their views be? They hated humans so much, they treated them like shit. “All this effort, after a _human_. He’s going to die in like what? Seventy years? Eighty? That’s less than a tenth of your lifespan.”

Luhan twisted violently, shaking off the hands that held him down, and came for him like a bullet. If Luhan really wanted to, he could have ripped Baekhyun’s head off right then and there, but the rogues didn’t know that. Baekhyun flipped him to the ground easily, wincing mentally when tarmac cracked under the force, and kicked him. Luhan groaned, letting two of the rogues catch him again.

 

Baekhyun turned to survey the rest of his friends, looking down at them coldly. “The same goes for that medic, and Jongin.” Their eyes were sharp, but they didn’t look hurt. Baekhyun almost sighed in relief; they understood what he was doing, praise whatever almighty being that could be out there because what he was going to say next would sting. This was going to hurt Minseok so much.

“And don’t even get me started on _Jongdae._ ” Huh. It wasn’t as difficult to say this bit. “He attacked us, he made Yeol like this, and you still. Want. Him. Back.”

“He didn’t know –”

“Of course he did! And as soon as he found out what you were, he tried to kill you too.” Say it Baekhyun. Just say it. “Now he’s dead, he’s like us, and even if you did get him back...”

He knows it’s not true, he knows you don’t mean it.

“He’d just ask you to kill him – and the shittiest thing is that you’ll do exactly as he says and you’ll probably jump on the stake right after him.”

The rogues tittered. Baekhyun felt sick. Chanyeol’s grip tightened, distressed.

“Same for Yi Fan, running after that cop like a lost puppy.” Baekhyun’s tongue felt like poison. “When he doesn’t wake up,” _Tao will wake up_ , “we’ll be short another member and you really think I’m going to stay in a weak coven like that?”

Then came the hardest part. Baekhyun turned on his heel and left, tugging a very confused Chanyeol along with him.

“Baekhyun!” It was a good thing Baekhyun wasn’t facing the rogues because Joonmyun’s cry wrenched his heart in two and brought wetness to his eyes. He kept going.

\---

The rogues started to laugh in earnest. Minseok wasn’t expecting to be released, but he, Luhan, Joonmyun and Kyungsoo found they could stand again. They rose into half-crouches, ready to fight if need be. The rogue leader smirked. “We will see each other again. Very soon, I hope.”

Kyungsoo started forward but Joonmyun’s hand stopped him and the rogues slipped away into the darkness. A tense minute passed. Then Luhan huffed a huge sigh, filled with tension and disbelief.

“I hope they believed Baekhyun.”

“If they don’t, they have to be gods or something because _I_ didn’t figure out what he was trying to do until he started talking about Yi Fan.” Kyungsoo ran fingers through his hair sheepishly. “I thought he really lost it there for a moment.”

Joonmyun tapped Minseok on the shoulder. “Can we see where the trackers are?”

Minseok nodded, pulling out his phone and tapping on the maps. A cluster of red dots were moving steadily away from them. Now they just had to wait for Baekhyun to find the nest.

\---

Baekhyun ran. Not too fast. He was hoping the rogues would chase after him. He wasn’t disappointed. When the first hints of pursuit made themselves clear, Baekhyun stopped, his heavy heart jangling with the abrupt movement, and hooked his arm through Chanyeol’s. Chanyeol still looked confused, unable to comprehend why Baekhyun acted so… not-like-Baekhyun.

“What?” Baekhyun called out sharply into the night. This was kind of like a date. You got someone’s attention. You made them interested. Then you played hard to get. They’d want you all the more.

The rogue’s leader appeared first and the other twelve fell into a loose group behind him. “Hello.”

“Don’t care.”

“My name is Leeteuk.”

“And?”

Leeteuk smiled, chillingly cold under the warm expression. “How would you like to join us?”

 

* * *

 

 

There was that state of awareness you had just before waking, when sleep still held onto your consciousness, bare milliseconds from registering the blare of your alarm or the beep of your watch. And when you heard the first sounds, it would be as if a dam had broken, awareness flooding back into your system as you figured it all out. 

For Tao it wasn’t an alarm, it was the soft and gentle caress of air as someone breathed in an out. And with that first sense, that of hearing, came the rest. His head was in someone’s lap, fingers stroking through his hair. His clothes were soft against his skin… but… that couldn’t be right. Just like a dreamer remembering the events of reality, memories slammed into him like a wall of bricks. He should be soaked in blood, lying dead and cold on the floor of – the fingers in his hair were _warm_.

 

Tao’s eyes snapped open.

 

He froze.

 

Yi Fan’s face hovered above him, all relief and concern and bloody tears. It was as if Tao had never seen him properly before, everything was so _clear_. Tao opened his mouth, trying to speak.

 _Yi Fan_.

But nothing fell from his tongue. His throat convulsed, constricting in horror as he realised. He wasn’t breathing. He couldn’t remember how to.

“Tao, it’s alright.”

No it wasn’t. In a burst of panic, his hands spasmed, something pricking his fingers. His gums ached, something cold and sharp sliding over his tongue. He tried to close his mouth. He bit his lip instead. It hurt. He couldn’t breathe. _He couldn’t breathe_ –

Yi Fan held him still and shoved their lips together. Caught completely by surprise, Tao quietened, his claws and fangs retracting as he closed his eyes. Tao responded eagerly, completely distracted with this new sensation. The last time they kissed, Yi Fan was icy cold and Tao had to suppress a shiver. This time, Tao trembled for an entirely different reason. Yi Fan sucked on his tongue and Tao gasped.

 

It was like he could taste the air. Yi Fan smelled like crisp, cold mornings and roses, and Tao pulled away slightly just so he could breathe him in. There was no relief tied to his inhales. His body didn’t need it. But he liked it. He liked how it filled his world with Yi Fan and nothing else.

“Yi Fan.”

“You’re late.”

Tao tilted his head in confusion, staring into Yi Fan’s eyes. The crystalline patterns of Yi Fan’s irises snatched at his attention.

“You’re almost half an hour late.”

“Oh.” Tao must have frozen solid again because Yi Fan took to rubbing his shoulders soothingly. “I… When did I…” His hand reached up to lay over his chest. Nothing beat behind his ribs. His heart was silent.

Yi Fan just shook his head, “you were gone when I found you.”

“Damn. And I thought I could at least pin you for being late on a date.” His own joke sounded feeble in his own ears and he ended up resting his head on Yi Fan’s shoulder. The pair stood, embracing, until a new scent swirled into Tao’s consciousness. It was sweet, but stale and cold. He somehow knew that wasn’t what it was supposed to smell like; it was supposed to be warm and wet and desirable but… his focus zeroed in on the red streaks over Yi Fan’s cheeks. Blood. That one single thought seemed to spark a fire. Dry itchiness kicked up at the base of his throat, creeping up higher and higher. His fangs snapped out again, claws accidentally hooking into the material of Yi Fan’s shirt.

“Yi Fan…” It’d be hard to believe Tao had trouble breathing several minutes ago because now he was practically panting, cool air doing nothing to soothe his thirst. No, not quite thirst. “Hungry.”

“I know.” Yi Fan’s arms tightened around Tao. Tao knew too. He knew what had happened. He knew what he was now and panic splintered in his chest. He expected his breaths to come faster, for his skin to flush and his heart rate to pick up but instead, all he got was nothing. His body locked up, going still in a way he never could before. Somehow he managed to force his frozen lips to move.

“Yi Fan, I can’t –” He couldn’t, he _wouldn’t_ kill.

“Do you trust me?”

Before his world hazed out into thirst, before things stopped to make sense, Tao managed to nod his head, clutching Yi Fan tighter. “Yes.”

Gently, so gently as if Tao was still human, Yi Fan turned Tao’s head so they were staring directly into each other’s eyes. “I’m going to put you to sleep ok? Just until nightfall.”

 _Don’t look into their eyes._ “Ok.”

The last thing Tao saw was the crimson of Yi Fan’s eyes burning into his.

\---

Baekhyun gritted his teeth, apologizing again and again inside his head as he watched the human die by his hands. The sun had just risen and the streets were mostly deserted except for the stone-dead drunks and druggies.

He had left a sleeping Chanyeol behind in the rogue’s nest, a spacious, roomed structure hidden under one of those flower shops next to Mapo Hospital. There wasn’t a trace of Sehun or Yixing, only a faint whiff of Jongdae, so Baekhyun hadn’t set down any of the trackers. Not really watching what he was doing, Baekhyun dragged the corpse over to where the rest of the rogues were.

Ever since Yi Fan and Joonmyun had told them about the rogues’ message, smeared in blood across various crime scenes, Baekhyun had a gross curiosity about how they did it. He wished he never, ever had to see it again.

_We kill the true monsters._

_\---_

An uncomfortable sense of déjà vu crawled up the back of Jongin’s neck as he walked down into the feeding rings. It was the same place as before, same assignment, same rules. But this time, Minseok and Tao weren’t in there with him; and when he got out, Jongdae and Yixing wouldn’t be there waiting for him either. This time, morning sunlight lit the waiting room instead of fluorescents. This time, he didn’t feel the least bit nervous when something cold brushed his shoulder. Jongin turned to face Kyungsoo’s familiar features, the loneliness bleeding away. 

Like before, Kyungsoo led him through the corridors and locked them into a room. Jongin gripped the vampire anxiously.

“Did Tao…?”

“We don’t know yet.” Kyungsoo’s nonchalance could not have been less fake. Jongin could see his agitation in the way he paced the room, a bit too fast to pass as human. “Yi Fan hasn’t contacted us yet.”

“What about Baekhyun and Chanyeol?”

“Baekhyun deserves an Oscar. Acting was on point, he’s hanging with the rogues now. Also, I have... very bad news."

Jongin turned his head quizzically. Kyungsoo swallowed. "Yixing's been caught by the rogues too.

Jongin went blank. “But… I haven’t heard anything about it. People must have freaked out after finding an empty cell. ”

“Minseok was thinking that Ziwei and the director withheld the information from you. You aren’t supposed to know about this.” Kyungsoo delicately left out the part where the rogues sent his fingernails in an envelope. Jongin breathed in deeply. Breathed out. In. Then –

“ok. Ok. Oh _shit_ –”

 

It took a while for Jongin to calm down again. Kyungsoo had gently picked him up and put him on the bed, letting the human sort out his thoughts. He had never really thought about it; Minseok, Luhan and Joonmyun had lost bits of their hearts but Jongin.. he’d lost them all.

“Are you ok?”

“Not really. No.”

“Did you even sleep at all when you got back to headquarters?”

“No… the room was too empty.” Jongin hesitated, then he shifted a bit to allow some space beside him. Kyungsoo climbed onto the bed beside him, gingerly allowing Jongin’s arms to wrap around him. Both of them shivered. They lie awkwardly for a couple of seconds then Jongin relaxed, eyes drooping.

“Do you want me to wake you up later or?”

“In an hour?” Jongin peeked open an eye to see Kyungsoo staring at him. The vampire tilted his head to press a kiss on Jongin’s cheek.

“Sure.”

“Are you just going to watch me sleep?”

“Maybe?”

“That’s creepy.”

Kyungsoo laughed and turned around, back against Jongin’s chest. “There, I’m not looking at you. Happy?” He jumped when a chin rested on his shoulder.

“Yup.”

 

When Kyungsoo heard Jongin’s breathing slow, arms going slack, he shuffled around carefully to face the human once again. He knew why Luhan never liked staying with Sehun through the night. It was in moments like these that Jongin’s beating heart made itself obnoxiously present, his breathing, his warmth. But Kyungsoo was younger than Luhan by more than five centuries and he still hadn’t experienced the pain loss, even though he had seen its effects. The image of Yi Fan, head bowed over a gravestone, surfaced in his mind. Kyungsoo pushed it away. He just wanted to live in this moment, right now. 

Jongin wouldn’t know how Kyungsoo nuzzled his head into the crook of Jongin’s arm, matching their breaths together. He wouldn’t know how Kyungsoo had almost fallen asleep himself, basking in their momentary window of peace. He wouldn’t know about the way Kyungsoo studied his features, but when a cool kiss had his eyes fluttering open, he didn’t have to know any of that to understand.

\---

Joonmyun and Minseok moved back into their nest, tip toeing around Tao’s sleeping body on the couch until Yi Fan reassured them he wouldn’t wake up. Joonmyun busied his hands, doing anything and everything to prevent himself from seeing that envelope and the small horrors that came sliding out. Yixing. Yixing had to be in pain, he had to be suffering, and –

“Joon.” Yi Fan’s larger hands took the blanket from him, smoothing out the wrinkles he had unknowingly twisted into the fabric. Joonmyun sighed, ducking into Yi Fan’s room and stripping the blood-stained sheets off the bed. It was unsalvageable, they’d have to ditch it. As soon as clean sheets and pillows and blankets went on, Minseok carried Tao to the bed, talking quietly to Yi Fan.

“He’s about your size. You’re going to have to share clothes until we can go buy some.” Translation: Until we get out of Seoul. Tao was too easily recognisable by any AVPF agent, most of their faces were by now, and it was too risky to walk around so casually. Yi Fan nodded. 

With nothing much left to do, the three of them left Tao in the room and sat at the table silently. Yi Fan coughed.

“Alright. Something’s wrong. What happened between last night’s meeting and now?”

Minseok and Joonmyun exchanged a glance.

 

* * *

 

 

Baekhyun had acquired a rather irritating new companion. One of the rogues seemed to have taken a great liking to him. What was his name? Heenim? No it was Hee _chul_. But Baekhyun kept him at arm’s length. There was every possibility that Heechul was there to keep tabs on him. 

Chanyeol was sleeping longer than usual. Even when night fell again, he didn’t stir. Baekhyun was sitting next to his bed, jittery with the thought that he was literally in the enemies nest, absently rubbing his thumb in a circle on the back of Chanyeol’s hand, when Heechul bounced into the room.

“Come with me!”

For fuck’s sake. Baekhyun bit down a sigh and stood, hesitating only for a second before leaving Chanyeol behind. He could always refuse to go too far. He jolted at Heechul’s sudden question.

“Like it here?”

“It’s… big.” And it was. Much more spacious than any of their nests now.

“It’s even bigger than you think it is.” Heechul looked like he was going to walk straight into the far wall of the nest, until he put his hands against the concrete and shoved. With a loud scrape, the wall started to turn inwards to reveal a secret passageway. “After you.”

“Where does it go?”

“Why don’t you go and see?”

So Baekhyun went.

 

The sharp, eye-watering scent of antiseptics hit Baekhyun like a wave. It was followed by that of stale blood. It smelled like a hospital. Multiplied by like a hundred times. Heechul brushed past him, leading Baekhyun down the passageway until it ended in another smooth wall. This one also swung around when pushed, and Baekhyun stepped into a long corridor, doors on either side. It similar to the layout of a hospital ward. If Baekhyun was guessing correctly, they were right under Mapo Hospital. Baekhyun stiffened when a weaker, softer, scent drifted into his nose. Sehun. And Yixing. He didn’t have time to snoop around because Heechul was beckoning him forward with a grin. 

They passed by the door through which he could smell Sehun and Yixing, right to the one on the other end of the corridor. The corridor ended in another wall. You had to have a vampire with you to get in here, no human could open the passageway. Heechul stopped, unlocking the door with a flourish and gesturing for Baekhyun to look inside. 

A figure huddled, hunched against the back with his forehead on his knees. Silver closed over his wrists and chained his ankles to the floor.

“Hi Jongdae!” Heechul called into the cell, “are you hungry yet?”

No reply.

Heechul sighed regretfully, “stubborn thing won’t eat unless he’s been miraged.” The rogue ducked into one of the other rooms, returning with a bag of blood and tossing it towards Jongdae.

Jongdae made no move to catch it, but it fell within his reach and Baekhyun jumped in surprise when he howled, curling up tighter into a ball. Baekhyun could hear how he stopped breathing, but that won’t help. Nothing could be done to avoid the enticing presence of liquid life, even when it was cold and cased in plastic instead of veins. Especially if you were less than a week old. Baekhyun felt a stirring of grudging admiration at how much control Jongdae seemed to have.

“Do whatever you want to him.”

“What?”

“You can kill him if you want.” Heechul shrugged. “He’s honestly a pain. Almost broke out of mirage yesterday. Too strong for his own good. I thought you’d want to mess with him.”

And with that, Heechul turned and left.

 

Baekhyun waited until the soft tread of the rogue’s feet faded from his hearing, then he stepped into the room. He picked up the blood bag and held it out in front of Jongdae, waiting silently. When the minutes stretched unbearably long, Baekhyun rolled his eyes and shook the bag.

“You need to feed.”

The curled-up ball of Jongdae didn’t twitch.

“Or you’re going to end up like Yeol.”

“No.” Jongdae’s head inched away slightly, enough for Baekhyun to see fangs slicing through his own lips. “I’d rather die.”

Baekhyun laughed, hollow and dark. “You don’t know how much I want to see that.” He crouched down, uncaring of whether Jongdae could see him or not. “How does the silver feel huh?”

Jongdae snarled. “Why don't you just kill me?”

“You’re already dead.” Then he put his mouth right next to Jongdae’s ear, just in case Heechul was trying to listen in on them. “And yeah, I hate you and I wish you would burn for what you did to my mate, but Chanyeol’s safe now, and this time Minseok’s in danger because of you.”

He pretended he didn’t notice how Jongdae stiffened. Even softer now, Baekhyun changed his tone. “He’s coming for you. Luhan’s coming for Sehun. And Joon's coming for Xing.”

Finally, Baekhyun elicited some sort of reaction from him. Jongdae’s gaze held his, wide and quivering. Baekhyun continued, hurried and whispered. “This is important. When do they put mirages on you?”

For a moment it seemed like Jongdae wouldn’t answer, but then his lips parted, stiff and hostile. “It depends. Whenever they take off the silver chains.”

“Have you seen Sehun or Yixing?”

“No.”

“When did you last feed?”

“Two days ago.”

Baekhyun’s jaw dropped. “How are you even remotely sane right now?”

Jongdae turned away, head dropping to his knees again. Scowling, Baekhyun ripped open the top of the blood bag, some of it spilling, and Jongdae groaned, digging his own claws into his arms to stop himself from taking it.

“Please, please _please_ don’t make me –”

“No one died for this blood.” Baekhyun thought for a second. “Well, you didn’t kill anyone for this blood. It’s stale though. If you want to stop yourself from slipping into a craze, you’ll have to feed for real sometime soon.” He let the bag slip from between his fingers. Jongdae caught it.

 

Baekhyun didn’t stay to watch – he wasn’t a babysitter for god’s sake – and he locked the cell when he left. He peeked around him, listening carefully. No one seemed to be around. He slipped three trackers out of his pocket and ducked into one of the open doors. 

There was nothing in this room but refrigerators, the type you would see in hospitals. Baekhyun didn’t pay any attention to them at first, looking around for anywhere he could hide the trackers. Could he put it in one of the refrigerators? 

Coolness breezed over him. Then came the stink of dead flesh, not mossy like those in graveyards, but artificial and preserved. Baekhyun’s gaze skipped over the refrigerator’s contents, not quite comprehending the plastic-enclosed blobs of red, brown and purple. Then it clicked and he closed it hurriedly, horrified. What the fuck would a human do with organs of all things? Baekhyun was suddenly struck with a horrible thought. Were one of those… Sehun’s? Or Yixing’s? No it couldn’t be, the rogues hadn’t killed them yet and apparently the kidnapper followed whatever they did. 

He left the trackers right in the back corner of the refrigerator. Then he made his way to the cell where Sehun’s and Yixing’s scents were the strongest. He cast a furtive look around him again. No one was looking at him, but trying to communicate with the humans was out of the question. He’d have to speak loud enough to get them to hear him and it was more than likely whatever rogues still hanging out in the nest across the secret passageway would hear him. So Baekhyun settled on pressing his ear against the door, listening to two distinct heartbeats and deep, even breaths. They were alive.

\---

“Yum, yum.” Luhan pulled a sour face, dropping the man’s body at his feet. After so long taking only from Sehun, others tasted… unsatisfying. But whatever it was, it did the job, muting the thirst that had been neglected for the past week or so. A flicker of movement and Minseok returned from one of the smaller side roads. They had run far to feed tonight, as far away from rogue activity as possible. The other side of Seoul was much the same as theirs. Minseok and Luhan watched worriedly as Yi Fan pulled another drunk out into the night with him, mirage dancing in his eyes. 

This was the third one and Tao seemed to be getting some coherency back in his movements. His head snapped up at the promising scent of warm blood, focusing instantly on the human Yi Fan was leading on. Before Tao could pounce, Yi Fan gently held the human’s face in his hands and gave a sharp twist. Bone cracked. The body had barely hit the ground when Tao caught it, baring its neck and sinking his fangs right where the jugular still pulsed weakly. 

Tao had woken up so agitated the only things he could say were ‘Yi Fan’ and ‘hungry.’ It was a nightmare to get him across the city without chasing after every faint human scent, every muted heartbeat, but they had made it and Yi Fan was trying his best to keep his word. Technically, Tao won’t kill anyone, he’d just take their blood. When he eventually gets his thirst under control, Yi Fan would bring him to the feeding rings instead, but this was currently the most efficient way to get out of young thirst: drinking until you couldn’t anymore. 

Just like Chanyeol had been, Tao was messy. He used too much strength to grip fragile, human bodies, too much power behind his bite. Yi Fan cleared away each one as soon as he was finished, afraid that Tao would suddenly snap back to coherency only to panic at the broken body in his arms. 

The third one seemed to do it. Tao’s hands shook when Yi Fan took the corpse away, eyes melting back to dark brown. He frowned down at his nails until the claws retracted.

“My fangs won’t go back.”

“You’re still hungry.”

“I…”

Yi Fan wasn’t fooled when Tao ducked his head, catching a glimpse of a red glow. He cupped Tao’s chin, tilting their faces until their foreheads bumped together, almost exactly as they did in Jangmi. “If you don’t want this…”

“I want this.” Tao’s expression crumpled. “Well, not _this_ , but… I know it’s unavoidable.” He stopped abruptly, aware of something cold and wet sliding down his cheek. His already bloodied fingers came away bloodier. Tears. Yi Fan brushed them away, attentive in a way so unfamiliar to Tao. It was different to the way Minseok took care of him when they worked, different to how the rest of his squad used to watch out for him. Tao bit his lip so hard his fang impaled his own flesh. The sharp sting had him focusing, swallowing down the rest of his tears. He didn’t want to waste the blood Yi Fan had killed for. 

When Yi Fan left again to bring him another, Tao tipped his head back and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. It was like every breath was his first, packed full with taste and colour. Through it all was the sweet, enticing scent if blood. He guessed if he was still human he would have likened it to the richest, darkest coffee he could ever imagine, just begging to be picked up and drank. It had been irresistible for the last hour or so and Tao couldn’t remember how many times he'd sunken his fangs into someone’s neck.

He didn’t want to think about it. How many had died tonight? The guilt that curled in his chest had tears threatening to fall again.  But then again… how many vampires had he killed? He had not felt this guilt, had never reflected on its consequences. The answer was horrific when you replaced ‘vampires’ with ‘humans.’ Too many. Too many to count.

\---

There were no other rogues in the nest when Baekhyun shut the secret passageway, but he could hear… humming? The voice was deep, calming and…

“Chanyeol?” The humming stopped. That was one of the songs he’d been practicing on his guitar before everything went to hell. Baekhyun flitted back to the room, hoping yet not daring to hope. Chanyeol was lying on his back like Baekhyun had left him. Instead of the strangely child-like curl Chanyeol had adopted in craze, his hands were folded behind his head, and when Baekhyun appeared beside the bed, Chanyeol sat up.

Baekhyun’s mind crashed to a stop because there was no more blankness, no more confusion in Chanyeol’s eyes. Well, there _was_ confusion, but the good kind, the kind of confusion that had an awareness. Chanyeol’s mouth was moving, he was _speaking_ , but Baekhyun didn’t hear a word of what he said as he jumped into his lap and hugged him, clinging on to him like a lifeline because he’d been lost and drowning for a desperately long time.

“You’re awake.”

“I am.” His voice was as soothing as Baekhyun remembered, with just that touch of lightness and mischief. Baekhyun laughed, holding Chanyeol’s head still as he pressed kisses to his lips, his forehead, his cheeks. He forgot where they were, what had happened, he forgot everything because Chanyeol was back. _He was back_. Then Chanyeol tilted his head in confusion, his concentration going to their unfamiliar surroundings.

“Baek… what happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sighs* I did so much research on ripped of fingernails... my eyes... cannot unsee some images.  
> IMPORTANT: Next update won't be until Christmas! I took so long with this chapter because I tweaked something and it snowballed and yayyyyy plot change so... *sighs again*  
> Comments! KuDoS <3 Hit me with everything you've got... including constructive criticism ;)


	14. Withered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alriiiight alright alright 
> 
> Merry late christmas and a happy new year enjoy the chapter :)

Jongin had forgotten about his problems in university, what with the insanity that was happening outside of it, until he pushed out the doors of the dance studio without looking and smacked into two familiar figures. The bruises still fading on his skin tingled. 

He bolted before the two bullies could react, taking the corner around the studio and crashing straight into someone else.

"Hey." 

Jongin righted himself and hissed, "What the hell are you doing here? Someone could recognize you!”

“Sorry.” Kyungsoo didn’t look sorry at all. He looked downright murderous peering over Jongin’s shoulder. “Are those two assholes still after you?”

"Uhm." A quick glance back. They were walking away. "I don't think so." 

Before Kyungsoo could think about doing anything remotely violent, Jongin tugged him away, not letting go until they were off university grounds.

 

Their hands slipped apart hesitantly, Kyungsoo’s fingers catching on his before they parted, and Jongin willed his cheeks to stay the same colour. The coolness of Autumn helped, the sky above them grey and overcast. He hadn’t noticed before, but Kyungsoo was holding an umbrella, one he shook out and opened up. Jongin frowned, confused.

“It’s not raining.”

“It’s going to be.” Kyungsoo resisted for a second before relenting and letting Jongin hold the umbrella instead. “I can smell it.”

“I know a place close by…” Jongin shifted on his feet, turning in the general direction of the place he had in mind and raising and eyebrow. Kyungsoo hooked his arm into Jongin’s elbow. Jongin took that as a yes.

They had barely taken five steps when the first drops of rain pattered off the umbrella.

“It’s been a dry Autumn, the first rains usually happen much earlier.” Kyungsoo’s murmur was soft, like he was talking to himself. “But it’s colder this year.”

Jongin’s focus flickered to the vampire beside him. How many years had Kyungsoo lived through again? Three centuries right? He wondered if Kyungsoo had, years ago, walked down this very same spot at the very same time of year and spoke of the same thing. Had it been colder that year too? Or had it rained so hard the dirt roads flooded over? Had winter come early, frosting blades of grass and trees so that the sun sparkled off the ice come dawn?

Ten more minutes and they stood outside a small café, one Jongin had been to many times before as a student who had forgotten their breakfast, speeding his way to an early class. He guessed it _was_ colder this year - the summer flowers planted in the cute little pots outside had curled into themselves when last year they had still stood strong. It had rained enough for puddles to form on the road.

Kyungsoo’s grip stopped him before he could close the umbrella, “are you still scared of me?”

Jongin tilted his head and frowned. Where did he get that idea?

“You’re so tense around me all the time…” Kyungsoo’s thumb rubbed circles over Jongin’s knuckles as he frowned. “You breathe faster, your heartbeat sounds nervous and you –”

“- like you. Like. You. A lot.” Well, that was intelligent.

They gaped at each other, one surprised at his boldness, the other surprised at the confession. Then a car drove by too fast and doused a wave of puddled rainwater over their frozen forms.

\---

In the darkness of the nest, Tao was desperately trying to stay awake. He was lucid, the thirst taking a back seat along with the rest of his senses. He never thought he’d hate the sun as much as he did now.

“Here.” A cup of coffee nudged its way into his view. Tao looked up, smiling gratefully at Joonmyun’s concerned expression.

“Does caffeine even work on me now?”

“Well, no.” Joonmyun had his own drink in his hands. “But if you believe it does it will.”

Tao laughed and put the cup against his lips. The first drop of coffee had him coughing, “ugh fuck.” He had nothing but the heavy sweetness of blood for his entire undead life up until now and the coffee’s bitterness  was overwhelming. Tao gingerly sipped again. It tasted much better but still… different.

“You’ll get used to it.” A hand ruffled through his hair and Tao grumbled, sending a mini snarl in Minseok’s general direction. “You should be sleeping Tao.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re young.” His captain – wait he wasn’t captain anymore was he? – smiled, exasperated in the same way he would have if they were still back in headquarters.

“I want to try and stay awake.”

“I know you want to be back to normal as soon as possible,” said Minseok, gentle and soothing, “but when you’re young, it’s bad for your control.”

Tao hesitated, teetering on the edge. Then the air shifted, admitting another scent into the layers around him. The couch dipped, Yi Fan’s arms tightening around him reassuringly, already a familiar weight.

“It would be easier at night if you slept now.”

Tao’s shoulders drooped and he nodded. Night time. The disappearance of the sun meant the reappearance of his thirst, fueled by sharpened senses. “I’ll finish the coffee first?”

“Sure.”

 

Still smelling of coffee, Tao climbed onto the bed after Yi Fan, eyelids already dropping closed. It felt like he was losing some sort of battle with the vampire inside of him but it couldn’t be helped. He ended up curled against Yi Fan’s chest, melting into the feeling of long fingers stroking through his hair. It was exactly like they were when he had first woken up in the same bed. Had it only been a day? It felt like forever.

“Hey, Yi Fan.”

Yi Fan hummed in response.

“The rogues want us right?”

The fingers in his hair went still. Tao inhaled deeply.

“Wouldn’t it be quicker to get to Sehun and Xing and Dae if we went?”

“Tao –”

“Not for real.” Tao swirled patterns into the fabric of Yi Fan’s shirt. “Like how we tricked the rogues in Sosa. Like how Baekhyun tricked his way into the coven.”

He had forgotten that everyone else in the nest could hear them until Joonmyun sharp voice cut through the walls, quickly followed by Minseok’s. “Absolutely not.”

“No.”

“But just sitting here and waiting is so…” Tao bit off the rest of his sentence when Yi Fan knocked their foreheads together.

“We are not just waiting.”

“Uh huh. I heard you guys talking last night you know?” He poked at Yi Fan’s nose with a frown. “I wasn’t completely out of my mind. Eight against thirteen aren’t good odds.”

“When it gets to a fight, you are not coming with us.” No longer calm or soothing, Yi Fan caught Tao’s hand and laced their fingers together tightly.

“Why not?”

“You’re young, you’re still getting used to everything.”

“I can –” Everything ended with ‘you’re young’ and even if it was true, Tao couldn’t help feeling irked.

“You will not last in a fight between our kind and you know it.” Yi Fan’s eyes pled. “I do not want to lose you again.”

“I don’t want to lose you either.” Tao snapped back. “You can’t expect me to do nothing as the rest of you are out there fighting.”

Silence stretched taut between them. Tao couldn’t even hear Minseok or Joonmyun breathing. 

"Tao, it'll be weeks before you're sane enough at night to resist the scent of a human, we can't always be looking out for you when we fight." Yi Fan pressed an apologetic kiss to his hair, trying to soothe the  bite of his words. "You'll be -"

"- a burden," he sighed unhappily. "I know. Will you have to mirage me again to keep me in the nest?"

"If you don't want -"

"No, it's fine." Tao tucked his head under Yi Fan's chin, their legs tangling together. "I trust you."

Several slow breaths passed before Tao spoke again. "I won't be able to see Jongin or Xing or Hun for a while will I?"

"You'll see them again. I promise."

\---

Jongin’s sneeze sent him reeling back in his seat with its force. Limp strands of hair fell messily onto his forehead as he sniffed and glared at Kyungsoo. The vampire’s face was twitching with the effort of keeping his heart-shaped grin under control.

“Look how much help your umbrella was.”

Kyungsoo burst into laughter, turning several heads from other tables in the café. They were tucked into a corner, Kyungsoo faced away from most of the others, and the waiters had been kind enough to dish out several towels.

“You look like a drowned kitten.”

Jongin opened his mouth in retort but the only thing that exploded from his mouth was another sneeze. He thought it was utterly unfair how bedraggled he was whilst Kyungsoo’s hair was slicked back and fresh, absolutely no reaction to the cold. When he was sure he wasn’t going to sneeze again, he opted for another topic.

“How is Tao?”

“He’s awake, and lucid.”

“Can I –”

“No.”

Jongin pouted, “but he’s not dangerous now is he?”

“That’s because it’s daytime and he isn’t around any humans.” Their coffee arrived, hot and steaming, and Kyungsoo waited until the waitress had left before continuing. “He’ll be just as crazed as he was last night as soon as the sun goes down and his senses get stronger.”

Ok then. Fine. Next topic. Jongin sipped at his drink.

“What about the rogues?”

“They’re in Mapo – as we expected – but they’re right under the hospital.”

“That’s impossible.”

“We know.” Kyungsoo’s gaze dropped to stare into his coffee, head propped up on one hand. “Minseok was theorizing about something even further under than the morgue.”

“Do you know where the opening to the nest is?”

Kyungsoo pulled out his phone, tapping until it displayed the screenshot Minseok had sent to them. “Alright. So. These three dots are what we assume to be where Sehun, Yixing and Jongdae are.”

Jongin nodded.

“These two dots –” he pointed a bit further left, “are probably where the rogues are nesting. And this one dot,” the last spot was very close to the nest, “is where the entrance is.”

That spot… Jongin turned the phone around a little and the roads matched up with his memory. “This area was under suspicion several months ago, just before people started going missing and rogues started killing everyone.”

“What? Why didn’t they pursue it?”

“There were a lot of other areas which were a lot more active. The AVPF thought it was unlikely they’d be so close to the hospital place.”

“Well, the joke’s on them.” Kyungsoo rocked back in his chair, hugging his drink to his chest. “But we have a massive problem. It’s seven of us versus thirteen.”

“Eight.”

“Tao isn’t coming and neither will you.”

“Why not?” Jongin leaned forward, elbows on the table, hurt. He wasn’t doing much to convince Kyungsoo in his current state but still. “I’m a cop.”

“And one cop isn’t going to be enough.” Kyungsoo set down his coffee and crossed his arms, “we’re fighting against an experienced coven, not the rag-tag bunch of sloppy youngsters you guys catch out in back alleys and lurking around bars.”

Jongin pursed his lips after a sip, staring contemplatively at the rim of his cup.

“What if it’s more than one cop? What if it’s several squads?”

He was leading to something crazy, Kyungsoo knew it, so Kyungsoo thought carefully before replying. “It would lighten the odds, but a lot of them would die.”

“You know what we signed? In the contract when we officially became cops?”

Kyungsoo didn’t answer. He didn’t like where this was going.

“We signed our lives up for the frontlines, we accepted the risks. We were allowed to drop out whenever we wanted to but no one did, even when our friends got killed on patrol.” There wasn’t fear after Mark’s squad, there was only a new determined grimness to their patrols, an extra hatred.

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow. The rogues were their enemy, but in this world the enemy of your enemy wasn’t your friend. “Whatever you’re going to suggest, it’s stupid.”

“I can drop all this information off to the director and Ziwei.” Jongin downed the last dregs of his coffee, now more damp than wet. “But I’ll just say I found it all in Xing’s notes.”

“How likely are they to believe you?”

Jongin shrugged, “don’t know until I try.”

\---

“Hey guys – ooookay.” Luhan landed in Joonmyun’s nest in a crouch, blinking at the icy silence. “What happened? Who died?”

“Not funny Lu.” With a sigh, Joonmyun tossed him a towel. “Is it so difficult to use an umbrella?”

“Yes. Anyways, Kyungsoo’s out with his lover boy and apparently the kid’s got a plan.”

There was the rustle of sheets, feet springing across the floor, and Tao practically teleported in front of Luhan, eyes uncontrollably red and wide with anxiety.

“Jongin’s got a plan?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?”

“Fuck sleep.”

“True.” Luhan would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried. They were all wound up tightly, coils of impatience and distress. It wasn’t enough for them to start shouting at each other. They passed that particular bump in the road maybe two centuries back. “Anyways, yes. Plan.”

Minseok and Yi Fan joined them, the latter hovering, ever-present, behind Tao’s fidgeting figure.

“Well, spit it out.”

 

* * *

 

 

Chanyeol fitted in with the rogues scarily easily. Baekhyun shouldn’t have been surprised; Chanyeol had always been a social butterfly and he’d managed to strike up conversations that weren’t revolved around blood, killing or general human hate. Only Baekhyun, someone who had lived with him for centuries, could pick up on small nuances in his speech and movement, jerks of his hand and hand gestures that revealed his discomfort. When the sun rose and the rogues went to sleep, Chanyeol and Baekhyun stayed awake, curled up on the same bed, staying silent and soaking in each other’s presence.

Their silence was broken by a loud knocking.

“Hello?” A heartbeat. Human breaths. What the hell? From another room, one of the rogues stirred. They heard the entrance to the nest swing open and the human was let in. Both of them came to the same conclusion at the same time, whispering simultaneously.

“The creep.”

From outside the room came the sound of scraping. Of course. The human wouldn’t be able to get through the passage by himself. Baekhyun made to get up from the bed but Chanyeol tugged him to a stop.

“What are you doing?”

“What if they’re going to mess with Sehun? Or Yixing?”

“If you try to stop anything, there’s a whole coven of rogues that would come crashing down on you. If it really comes down to it, we'll be able to run over before anything serious happens.”

Baekhyun chewed on his lip, head turned so his ear was pointed in the general direction of noise. It didn’t sound like anything particularly violent was going down.

“Baek…”

“Hmm?”

“Jongdae is stuck there too.”

“I know.”

Chanyeol sighed, “Baekhyun. I know you. You keep grudges for centuries. Let this one go.”

“I do not.”

“You moped about that prank Taehyung pulled on you for almost a century until you got him back.”

“That’s different.”

“You know what I mean.” Chanyeol pulled him back down onto the bed, his face the most serious it had been for a long time. “I forgive Jongdae. I’m safe now aren’t I?”

Baekhyun pursed his lips. “He would have killed you.”

“He wouldn’t now.”

“How would you know? You haven’t even met him.”

“You haven’t met him either.” He flicked Baekhyun playfully between the eyes. “But Minseok knows him, you've heard him talk about Jongdae. And now he’s the one shoved in a cell, don’t you think he’s suffered enough?”

A long moment of thinking, then Baekhyun said, “fine.”

“We’re going to have to work with him.”

“Then all of this would be over and we’d be back with everyone else.” Baekhyun smiled wanly and looped his arms over Chanyeol’s shoulders. He expected Chanyeol’s deep laughter, for longer arms to wrap around his waist and hug him closer, but Chanyeol was stiff and unresponsive. Baekhyun pulled back to frown, “Yeol?”

Only then did the arms come around him and pull him close but there was still something there that wasn’t quite right.

_He’s just tired, disorientated. Chanyeol’s fine. He’s back._

“It’s nothing.”

Baekhyun tipped his chin up to make eye contact. “Are you sure?”

Chanyeol blinked at him, “I’m sure. I’m fine Baek.”

\---

“So.” The director laced his hands together, elbows propped on his desk and looking every bit of the stone-cold leader he was. Jongin gulped. “You are suggesting we trust the notes of a traitor.”

“I am not –”

“He could have been misled, tricked. It happens when you put your trust in vampires.” He closed Jongin’s file firmly. “I know you grieve over the loss of your squad, but this will do nothing to save them.”

“Sir! This case involves not only the lives of a sympathiser and an ex-feeder, but the lives of innocents! Is it not enough to at least warrant an investigation?”

“Whatever information you have heard from Dr Zhang had undoubtedly been obtained from vampires. I will not send living men out on the trust of such monsters.” The director pushed his file away, turning to another set of papers, clearly dismissing Jongin and the information he brought. Even when it was obvious he wasn’t welcome to speak again, Jongin stood up, hands braced on the desk Tao had hated so much and articulated every word louder than he had before.

“What if all Yixing said is true?” _It’s true. You have to do something about it._ “It could not hurt to check for the rogue’s nest. If it really is there, our problem would be solved.” _And Sehun, Jongdae, Yixing… they’d be safe._

When the director’s steely glare stabbed into his, Jongin forced himself to stay steady. It was a good thing the director was human or Jongin’s stuttering, nervous wreck of a heartbeat would give him away. He took a deep breath. “There shouldn’t be any harm in checking, sir.”

The stillness that ensued had Jongin holding his breath. He didn’t let it out when the director spoke again. “I will consider it. Leave your files here.”

Jongin left the files and left the room and left all the tension behind him, closing the grey director’s door. His lungs emptied with a relieved sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair, bringing his watch up to check the time. Late afternoon already.

 

Jongin entered his room softly. Except… it didn’t feel like his room anymore. None of it did. Nothing from Tao’s side had been touched or tampered with, no one had wanted to sort through his belongings. It just felt… empty. So he started to pack.

He didn’t actually have much. Clothes. Study things for class. And… that was it. He could leave everything else behind. He hefted the weight of his stake in his hand and slipped that into his bag too, along with a silver knife. Never knew when he might need those. Done, Jongin sat on his bed, a little lost even with his mind already made up. After this he was going to quit. That he knew for sure. But what he was going to do when he left, he had no idea. Jongin was roused from his bleak thoughts by a knock on the door.

A shy face, framed by long wavy hair peeked through the gap of the open door.

“Irene?” Jongin swung the door open fully, wiping his face into a smile. “What’s up?”

The cop trainee opened and closed her mouth a few times. Her eyes darted nervously to the sides. Jongin felt his smile dip into a worried frown, about to ask her if she was ok when she finally worked herself up enough to whisper.

“They told me not to tell you, but squads are being sent out at sunset to Mapo hospital.”

Jongin’s heart seized up, uncomprehending, as she ducked her head and scampered away, leaving him stunned in the doorway. Squads. Mapo hospital. The rogues.

He needed to tell Soo.

His phone had barely made it into his hand before there was another knock on his door, sharper and more obnoxious. Jongin whirled around to see Ziwei leaning against the doorframe. It must have looked comical, how he whirled another one-eighty to put his back to her again.

“What do you want?”

“I’m just here to talk.”

“Your voice is unwelcome.” Damn. Since when was his tongue so troublesome? Jongin didn’t see her close the door, nor did he see her approach him, but he heard her steps and felt her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t touch me.”

When she didn’t move away, he snatched her wrist and forced her hand away. “I thought you’d feel at least a little lonely.”

“My captain is a vampire, two of my squad members are missing and one of them got executed.” Jongin snapped, “you may not have human emotions but I do.”

“Of course I have emotions, Jongin, and I find this one thing incredibly strange.”

“What?” Jongin eyed her warily, stepping back when she stepped forward. Her grin was tinted with triumph.

“The director and I agreed to keep Dr Zhang’s disappearance covered up. Not many people should now about it, especially not you.” Jongin’s blood froze. “I can’t help but wonder, how did you come to know that Dr Zhang is missing?”  

\---

Sehun and Yixing had taken to sleeping in turns, and currently Yixing was curled up on the mattress, unconscious to how Sehun tried to peer out the grimy square window in the cell door. They had heard their captor enter with that weird scraping noise again, but strangely, there were no accompanying screams from the other cells, no other sounds. The quiet was disconcerting.

Someone banged their fist against the cell door and Yixing jerked awake, eyes snapping wide open. The medic rubbed furiously at his eyes with his bound hands, struggling to walk over and join Sehun as keys rattled in the lock. The face that greeted them wasn’t the one they expected. Blank and emotionless, Jongdae stepped into the cell.

“Jongdae.” Yixing breathed. The medic stood up, arms twitching up as if he wanted to reach out. “Dae? It’s me –”

Without a blink of recognition, Jongdae ignored him completely and yanked him forward by the collar. Yixing yelped, still half-asleep, and fell onto his knees. Jongdae didn’t care, he just dragged Yixing out of the cell and slammed the door shut behind him. Tinny banging was all Yixing could hear from the cell along with Sehun’s muffled yelling.

\---

Jongin’s breaths came hard and fast as he pounded through the streets. Everything had that autumn, late-afternoon orange glow to it, a beauty Jongin was currently blind to. Of all the situations he had envisioned, getting chased down by AVPF wasn’t one of them.

If it had been summer with it’s late sunsets and long days, Jongin would have been able to lose his pursuers easily, blending in with the crowd. But no, the sun was set to disappear in less than an hour and most of the citizens were already safe in their houses.

He had a stake. An empty gun. A knife. He hadn't managed to take his bag with him, he didn't know how he even got out of headquarters, but he was out and he needed to stay out. Jongin took a random corner, uncaring of which direction it took him. He knew the city well enough to find himself again – uh oh. Too fast to come to a stop, Jongin skidded right into the middle of the next street over in full view of a cop. He never backpedaled so fast in his life.

Phone. _I still have my phone you fucking **idiot.**_ Jostling with the movement of his legs, it took several fumbles to pull it out of his pocket. As soon as he did, he was calling a familiar number.

 _Pick up pick up please pick up._ Was that a car he could hear? How the hell did they keep finding him – “Shit.”

With his free hand, he patted over his clothes, running over his sleeves and shirt until his fingers found a small, cool bump of metal. He had to slow down to rip it off. Tracker. Ziwei must have put it there when she visited. He threw it as hard as he could to the side just as the car turned into view.

“Hello?”

“KYUNGSOO!” Jongin scrambled for something coherent between panic, panting and exhaustion. That car would run him down if he didn’t get off the road _now._ The phone dropped from his ear as he sprinted, the noise of an engine getting louder and louder until he was sprinting into the first building that was open. 

Jongin smacked the top of his head off the boom gate as he ducked under it. The first floor of the carpark was full. From what he saw on the signs it was five stories high. No elevator. He jumped to the stairs, taking them two at a time, finally finding the time to speak.

“Jongin? What’s happening? Why are you running?”

“I tried to tell the director about the rogue nest.” Could Kyungsoo even understand what he was saying right now? A stitch had started up in his side. “It went to shit.”

“Where are you?”

Fuck. “I don’t know. Carpark in…” Where was he? “Somewhere on Yeonnam road. ANYWAYS, there's a bigger problem -” third floor already. He could hear footsteps echoing up behind him "- the AVPF are attacking the rogues at sunset. You guys need to get over there, or they'll kill Dae and shove Xing back into the hospital."

His thighs burned with exertion. He could stop, try and hide in amongst the cars, but the cops were too close behind him. Kyungsoo was silent as Jongin sped up the last flight of stairs. 

“We'll handle that after I come to get you. Keep the phone on.”

Jongin shoved the phone into his pocket as he emerged onto the roof. There were still cars parked up here thank god. Jongin sprinted several rows, dropped, and rolled under a car, desperately willing for his breaths to slow down.

The cops burst onto the roof seconds after he hid. Jongin could see five pairs of feet. They sent a squad out to catch one human. Jongin was screwed. He carefully pulled his phone up again, eyes trained on the feet.

“There are five of them. They probably aren’t armed with silver if they only came to chase me.”

“Can you take them?”

“Only one or two.”

“Hold out for one more minute.”

“Can do.” Those feet were getting awfully close, close enough to see there was someone under the car. Jongin crawled around to the other side of the car, getting up in a crouch and slipping into the next row. Where were the other feet? 

“He’s here!” 

The shout jolted Jongin’s heart. They had been behind him. Jongin bolted forwards, squeezing between badly-parked cars until he hit the last row. Beyond that was a short, waist-high wall that guarded the area from a five-storey drop to the streets below. 

He was moving too slowly. Something grabbed his shirt, yanked him back onto the floor as he was getting away. The impact sent an unpleasant thump into his tailbone. The others had caught up. Jongin flailed, his elbow connecting with someone’s chin. The cop looked familiar. Probably one of the squads they worked with last time.

 _Ziwei isn’t with them_. For some reason, it was that odd detail that Jongin picked up as he scrambled to his feet. He'd thought she would want to hunt him down herself.

"Freeze!"

Jongin ignored the command and pushed against the tarmac, propelling himself forwards. 

"Freeze or we'll shoot!" 

Jongin kept ignoring them until he reached the low wall and turned around, leaning back to rest his hands on the top. The squad fanned out in front of him in a semi-circle, guns out. He raised an eyebrow. "You'll shoot?" 

"You are to be escorted back to headquarters."

"Like hell I am." Jongin snorted and levered himself up to sit on the wall, bending his knees and standing up. There was nothing behind him but empty space. The squad's aim shifted to follow him but they didn't shoot. Of course they won't. The only people they had ever killed were vampires. If they shot him, he'd fall. They didn't have it in them to kill a human. 

"Get down from there."

"Or what?" Jongin raised his arms. "You'll shoot?"

From inside his pocket came a soft, muffled voice. "Jump." 

Jongin didn't think twice. He spun around, not a blink at the emptiness that yawned before him, and bent his knees. Alarmed shouts exploded behind him, too late to pull him back as he jumped. 

\---

 

“Jongdae I know you can hear me.” Yixing whispered. He was lying on the table, in the room he had stumbled upon on his arrival, with Jongdae pinning his wrists to down above his head. There had been corpses where he was. He tried not to think about that.

“Jongdae.”

No answer.

“Jongdae, snap out of it.” Yixing tugged lightly on his hands. Jongdae stayed stone-still and showed no sign of changing. Yixing was stuck on this table until he could get Jongdae to let go. So he was stuck forever. “You know you’re under a mirage. You can fight it. You’re strong enough – _please._ ”

Footsteps approached the room, too loud to be a vampire. Yixing’s stomach dropped in fear even before the human’s face appeared over him.

“Hello Xing!” Fingers weaved through his hair, tightening and forcing up his chin and –

 _Too close. Get away from me._ Yixing jerked back futilely, kept in place as his captor’s lips slid down his jawline. Jongdae’s grip stayed as strong as ever. The human walked off to the side to retrieve something - Yixing couldn’t crane his neck up high enough to see - still talking casually.

“They said I couldn’t kill you at first, but they got impatient, they told me to do whatever I wanted.”

Yixing’s mouth ran dry. He struggled against Jongdae’s cold hands, staring pleadingly up at his passive face. “Jongdae let me go –”

“I did say that Sehun wasn’t my type.” That was a scalpel in his hand. The small blade held the same terror as a chainsaw did when paired up with that insane grin. The human set the scalpel off to the side. “But you...” A hand slipped under his shirt. “I like you.”

\---

Jongin’s heart felt like it was in his mouth as he dropped. There was nothing under him but weightlessness. For five storeys. Jongin screamed. Something slammed into him and his mouth clicked shut, almost biting his tongue off. He tasted blood. 

His face was buried in someone’s jacket. Another jolt, gentler this time, jostled him and it was like someone had flicked a switch to turn gravity back on.

"You ok?" Velvety and familiar. Jongin lifted his head, first seeing heart-lips, then a small nose and wide eyes.

A hysterical bubble of laughter burst from Jongin’s chest, "that was fun."

"You're insane."

"Put me down?"

“No. Close your eyes. We’re running.”

“Wait wha –” Jongin didn’t even get out his whole sentence before Kyungsoo clutched him tighter and the world blurred around them.

\---

Chanyeol and Baekhyun bolted for the secret passageway. The voice was unfamiliar to Chanyeol's ears, but Baekhyun had reacted immediately to the screams. Yixing was in trouble. They hadn't even reached the passageway when three rogues popped up in front of them. The entire nest came alive with rustling, vampires stirring in their beds. The sun was setting soon.

"Where do you think you're going?" 

Yixing was still screaming. For some reason, he was screeching Jongdae's name. Baekhyun wet his lips nervously. Two against thirteen. One slipped into the passageway. Ok then. Two against twelve. That wasn't much better.

\---

Fear slammed Yixing’s heart against his rib cage; more violently than that one time he was almost ripped to shreds by that vampire, on a patrol when his squad was still new, more sickly than when he watched Mark die under his blade and more panicked than when Luhan had closed him in that pitch-dark nest with Joonmyun.

His legs kicked as he twisted, some mutated form of a scream falling from his lips out of desperation. "Jongdae let go of me!"

“He can’t hear you.” The human giggled. Fingers trailed up too high on Yixing's thigh and he jerked, kicking out weakly. It was dodged with ease. Yixing froze as something cold and sharp burned against the skin under his jaw. The scalpel. 

The only ludicrous thought that came to mind was:  _Is it disinfected?_

"Jongdae please!"

Still no reaction. Yixing fell still, not even daring to breathe. Scalpels were sharp and the human was pressing it hard enough to break skin at the slightest movement. 

“The rogues really want you messed up.”

The fingers dipped lower, into his waistband. Yixing's fingers clenched, arms straining to work it's way out of Jongdae's grip. "Jongdae -" the motion of his jaw had the scalpel digging in too hard and opening up a shallow slice. Right now, it was the least of Yixing's worries.

The pressure on his wrists lightened. The human didn't notice.

“So I’ll fuck you.”

“Jongdae!”

“I’ll carve out your insides.” He tugged the fly of Yixing’s jeans open.

 _No, no no no –_ “Jongdae let me go!”

Jongdae's fingers twitched. 

“And I’ll dump your empty corpse on the street. You know,” it’s hand shoved down Yixing’s pants to grope at his inner thigh. “Even though you had a vampire. I couldn’t spot any bites on you. Did he bite you here?” It’s fingernails dug into skin and Yixing sobbed. He refused to look down, keeping his eyes trained on Jongdae's blank face. 

"JONGDAE!" 

Yixing watched the blankness disappear with a blink. Jongdae’s eyes were still red, but there was consciousness glowing behind the colour. Suddenly, Yixing's hands were free. 

\---

Mirage simmered in Yi Fan's eyes, reflected in Tao's. "Stay in the nest."

Tao nodded blankly, unresponsive when Yi Fan pulled him in for a hug. 

"We'll be back soon." 

 

Yi Fan closed the nest with more care than usual. Tao was defenceless in that state, a sitting duck. He joined the rest of his coven in the midst of an argument.

"I'm coming!"

"It's dangerous -"

"I've handled  _dangerous_ for more than half my life." Jongin crossed his arms and glared down at Kyungsoo. "You don't have to baby me Soo. Minseok, tell him!"

Kyungsoo snarled, "the only thing Minseok will tell you is that this is nothing like you've ever tried to fight before." They both turned expectantly to Minseok. Minseok looked between them helplessly.

"Do you have your stake?"

Jongin held it up, also flashing the handle of his knife. "I don't have a gun, but it won't be that useful in a cramped, dark nest anyways."

"How's your head?"

"Jongdae didn't hit me that badly, I'm not dizzy."

Minseok wilted under Kyungsoo's death glare, but he said it all the same. "You can come."

"WHAT!? Minseok -"

"He's been in worse shape before, and we're never going to be able to leave him. Unless you're planning to cast a mirage."

Kyungsoo subsided with pursed lips and a murderous aura as Jongin grinned triumphantly. Yi Fan stepped gingerly into their bubble. "Where's Joon and Lu?"

"Right here." 

"Great, let's go -"

"We need a plan."

"Joon. We've got no time for a fucking plan." 

\---

Sehun slammed his shoulder against the door one last time in frustration. Yixing had gone silent. The feeling of not-knowing curled around him, suffocating and terrifying. It was worse to wait in the silence than to endure the screams because at least he knew Yixing was still alive. 

He collapsed onto the mattress, only to jump back up as the cell door slammed open. A figure blurred forward and before Sehun could piece his wits together, something slammed into his side. It felt like a particularly hard punch.

The breath wooshed out of Sehun in a wheeze as he stumbled backwards, falling against a wall. What he saw when he looked down didn't compute. It was like he was staring at a black screen, nothing went through to his head. A rogue's face was inches from his and he hadn't been punched. Instead, the rogue's clawed fingers disappeared into his chest, buried knuckle deep. 

Sehun opened his mouth to gasp but warmth welled up in the back of his throat and he coughed instead. Blood splattered between them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I'll get the next chapter out before I fly off on holiday >w< and that will be three weeks of dodgy internet, no laptop and no time so... *sobs grossly* I'll see you guys sometime in the future. Maybe in like 4 days. Maybe in 21 days.
> 
> Comments! Kudos! <3 <3 <3


	15. Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I'm still alive and I'm back from holiday yoot :)  
> If you want to make sure I'm not dead or something, I made a twitter account: https://twitter.com/Willow4442  
> Is that how we link here?  
> Enjoy the chapter :D

Yixing’s hands were free. He didn’t know how – he didn’t care – but he bolted upright and grabbed the creep’s head from where it was between his legs. There was a whole array of fancy movements he could pull, most of which Jongin or Tao could execute in a heartbeat. But with little to no practice and muddled with panic, Yixing shoved downwards. The creep’s head smacked off the table and it crumpled, swearing. It? He? Yixing scrambled off the table, fumbling to zip up his jeans and trying to scratch the feeling of the creep’s hands off his body. His ripped nails screamed in pain, his head throbbed – all pain faded into terror as he saw the creep get back on his feet. It still had the scalpel in hand.

It lunged for him and Yixing darted out of the way. But Yixing was still clumsy and he tripped over his own feet, falling on his back. His shoulders collided with the floor in numb explosions of pain. He somehow caught the creep’s wrist before the scalpel came down on his throat. It was saying something. Yixing couldn’t hear over the rush of panic in his ears. The blade trembled, a slow descent, and Yixing heaved upwards with desperation. He was weak – too weak – and it was too strong. Then, too quick for him to register, the creep disappeared.

Blinking at the ceiling, trying to remember how to move, Yixing rolled onto his side. He strained to lift his head. Jongdae had the creep pinned to a wall, clawed hands forcing their gazes to meet.

“Stop moving.”

Miraculously , the creep stopped. Jongdae frowned, concentration etched into his face. His red eyes flickered. 

“Drop the scalpel.” 

Yixing flinched at the clatter of metal. The medic forced his elbows to bend, for his knees to support his weight. He ended up collapsing against the table, staring but not quite comprehending. When Jongdae spoke again it sounded... different.

“Let me feed.” The blank sheen of mirage was gone from his eyes. Instead, an unfocused haziness simmered in its place. Thirst. The creep had hardly twitched his chin downwards in a nod before Jongdae had his face buried in its neck. 

All Yixing did was watch. Had it been anyone – any _ thing _ – else, the medic in him would have stirred. But his mind spun with images, the corpses from the morgue, the bite marks down Sehun’s neck. Yixing didn’t care when the creep’s breaths started coming up short. When the body finally went slack and Jongdae let it collapse to the floor, Yixing felt sick. Not because of Jongdae or the corpse in the room, but because of himself. It had died and Yixing found himself regretting that he hadn’t been the one to kill it. He woozed on his feet.

Jongdae caught him as his knees buckled. His lips shone red with blood and Yixing found himself blinking at the vivid colour.

“… alright?” Jongdae’s voice faded into consciousness. “Xing?”

“I’m ‘kay.”

“No you’re not – shit, I’m gonna carry you, ok?” 

Yixing didn’t trust his throbbing head enough to nod, murmuring a ‘yes’ instead. The room tipped sideways as cold arms swept him up bridal-style. Yixing screwed his eyes shut and breathed away the nausea. “Sehun.”

“I know.” There was a tightness to Jongdae’s tone that had Yixing’s chest clenching. Something was wrong, something he couldn’t sense with his weak human nose and ears. Jongdae wrenched the door open and fresh air flooded Yixing’s senses. He clutched Jongdae's shirt, intending to ask. Bright white light blinded his eyes. 

\---

The rogue shrieked and stumbled away, clutching at its eyes. Its claws wrenched out of Sehun’s chest. Without anything to hold him up, Sehun crumpled against the wall behind him, pawing at the wound. The taste of iron filled his mouth. Was this what blood tasted like to vampires? He doubted it. 

He tried to breathe. Pain shocked into his system. He blinked. Spots from the sunbomb still danced in his vision. Sehun coughed on his own breaths. The rogue was getting up, burns peeling on its skin. Sehun couldn’t move. But something else did.

A blur of speed streaked into his cell and rammed into the rogue. It flew into the wall, concrete cracking under the force. Sehun had trouble focusing on his saviour. It was… 

“Sehun! Oh my god shit shit  _ shit _ –” Cold hands replaced his, pressing onto the hole in his chest. He had a hole. In his chest. Oh  _ shit _ –

“Hey – hey!” Baekhyun’s free hand tilted his face up, preventing him from staring at the  hole in his chest . “Sehun. Calm. You’re ok. You have to breathe  gently. ”

Sehun tried to speak, but all that came from his throat was a terrible gasping noise and a fresh burst of blood. 

“No no no don’t talk.” Baekhyun had burns on his face too. “We’re gonna get you some help, ok?”

\--- 

“I’m ok.” Jongdae snarled, rubbing at his eyes and wincing at his burns. “I’d never thought sunbombs – get back!” 

Yixing found himself getting shoved backwards. He staggered back to his feet in time to watch Jongdae slam clawed fingers into a rogue’s chest, aiming for its heart. It hissed back at him, snapping its fangs, until Jongdae shoved deeper still and it went limp. Up to his elbow in gore, Jongdae sprung back up.

“There are cops coming.”

“What?” 

“I can hear them – fuck.” Defensive yet again, Jongdae lurched into a crouch and hissed down the corridor. A shadow flitted into view, tall and lanky. Jongdae’s stance stiffened in surprise as Yixing’s recognition clicked.

“Chanyeol?”

“That’s me.” He stared at them. “Uh, Yixing right?”

Yixing nodded. They all startled as guns went off somewhere in the nest, loud and piercing. What a way to meet. Yixing turned to head further down the corridor, towards Sehun.

“Sehun –” He yelped when Jongdae picked him back up. Speeding down the corridor beside them, Chanyeol twitched with surprise at Jongdae's nudge. 

“ I think I’ve made a very bad first impression of myself.”

“That is the literal understatement of the century.” Chanyeol laughed once, short and strained. “Now isn’t exactly the best time either.”

“Well… I’m Jongdae.” 

“I know… I’m Chanyeol. Nice to meet you again."

\---

“Alright, there’s three squads here so far.” Minseok peeked around the corner, “two are inside, one’s standing guard. There’ll almost definitely be reinforcements in the next twenty minutes or so.”

“How many rogues do you think they’ll take out?” asked Jongin.  With Minseok there it felt like he was back on patrol again, listening to his captain’s commands as they moved through the night . 

“If they’re lucky,  all of them.”

Luhan made a noise of disbelief. “They’re human.”

“And they’ve dropped a sunbomb into a nest of unsuspecting vampires. They’ll have casualties, but they also have the element of surprise.” 

“What are we waiting for again?” Luhan rolled his eyes.  At some sort of signal unknown to Jongin, the vampires slipped away, flickering around the corner . Jongin jumped into action, sprinting after them only to arrive in time to watch the last cop drop from Yi Fan’s grasp. 

“Don’t worry, we didn’t kill them.” Kyungsoo was by his side again, “we  just knocked them out.”  As Jongin watched, Minseok and Joonmyun tossed the squad back into their patrol car, locking the doors and keeping the keys . Yi Fan was busy locking up the other two cars, glancing back as he spoke.

“I’ll delay any reinforcements that come along, you guys go.”

Wordlessly , they part. The entrance to the nest was in a flower shop of all places. Trapdoor in the corner. Jongin descended into madness like he had never seen before.

The smell of gunpowder and smoke filled the dimness of the nest, along with the smell of something burnt. Small flashes of light spark in the dark along with the bang of guns. Jongin’s ears were already starting to ring from the sound. By now, the whole neighbourhood would be awake and this thing would be a front page news article as soon as the sun rose. He unsheathed his stake. 

They avoided the fights. Bodies lay across their path, most of them vampires. Jongin tried not to look too  closely at the cops. The further they wound into the nest, the more impatient Luhan and Joonmyun seemed to get. 

“Stop, cops ahead.”

“Well Min, what the fuck are we going to do about it?” Luhan snapped back at him. “Do the macarena?”

Jongin slipped past them, heading for the cops. A presence hovered by his shoulder and he glanced around to see Kyungsoo. 

"What will you do?"

"Distract them." Jongin dashed forwards, Kyungsoo easily keeping place, and barrelled straight towards the squad, not bothering to keep quiet. They spotted him, halting uncertainly as they recognised him. Kyungsoo blurred out from behind him, all fanged and clawed and menacing. Jongin watched their eyes widen in horror. 

The pair shoved past the cops, heading away from the rest of their coven. To their delight, the cops followed, leaving the way clear. 

\---

Yi Fan waited as the buzz of patrol cars grew louder and louder. His fingers gouged lines into the wall of the flower shop in his anticipation. The hospital was right next door. There were white roses in the corner of the display. He could hear tires of tarmac now, the thump of living hearts. He slipped towards them, staying out of the street lights. Car doors closed. Two cars. Yi Fan blinked his eyes open to red. 

If the cops had the upper hand over the rogues, Yi Fan had the upper hand on them. His open palm crunched into fragile, warm chests. He winced in apology as he felt bones give. With three down, the humans finally reacted. Yi Fan flashed behind a car, curling up, as the sunbomb detonated. He dashed back out with blurry vision, following the sounds of life. 

He may have hit the next one too hard. The goal was to disable, not kill. A bunch of dead cops weren’t going to help anyone. Daylight exploded through the night once again and this time, Yi Fan was a beat late in hiding. He hissed at the burns that seared into his shoulder. A shift in the air and Yi Fan dropped to the floor, bullets punching into the car door behind him. He rolled under the car and lashed out with his feet. His foot slammed into a knee and the cop crumbled with a pained grunt. Five down, five still up. That should be enough. 

Looking every inch the menacing vampire he  was supposed to be, Yi Fan’s lips curled off his teeth as he snarled at the remaining cops, fangs on full display . He froze when he saw them  properly . Ziwei was glaring at him. Her eyes looked red. She lifted her gun. With one last challenging smirk, Yi Fan darted away.

\--- 

Yixing was back in his element. He  was used to someone else’s blood on his hands, a life under his fingertips. But this… this wasn’t something he could sustain for long.

“We need to carry him out.”

“Xing, it’s a fucking murder house out there.” 

“I have nothing to work with here.” Yixing muttered under his breath, making sure Sehun couldn’t hear him but the vampires could. “If the hospital is right above us, Sehun will have a chance.”

Jongdae ducked back into the cell. It had become their little fortress,  easily defendable. “Can he  be moved ?”

“If you're gentle.” 

A new round of gunfire started up outside along with a pained yell. Baekhyun stumbled through the doorway, followed by Chanyeol. Burns peeled down their necks.

“ Just great. We tried to keep the rogues from killing the other captives and as soon as the goddamn cops walk in they try to kill  _ us _ .” Baekhyun slammed the door shut. A brief, blinding glow of light shone around the door frame. “Jesus  _ fuck _ – how many bombs do you guys keep in your pockets?”

Jongdae and Yixing reply in tandem without looking up from Sehun’s face. “Five.”

Baekhyun huffed, looking like he was on the verge of a tirade, when Chanyeol gripped his shoulder, a grin on his lips. “Baek, do you smell that?” 

They dragged in a deep breath. 

“I smell them!” Relief broke over Baekhyun’s face and he was sprinting out of the room. Yixing still didn’t turn to look, too occupied with Sehun’s predicament. Someone kneeled down beside him. Luhan. Mind going blank, Yixing didn’t protest as the vampire nudged him aside to take his place. A soft touch around his shoulders brought him to his feet, turning him around, and he was staring at –

“Joonmyun!” His cry tailed off into a dry sob. Yixing took one step and threw his arms around the vampire’s neck, tilting his head for a kiss.

\---

Yi Fan was hoping they’d follow him. They didn’t. Well, they did at first, until Ziwei’s low command had them returning to the rogues’ nest. He swore under his breath, dashing back for them before they could get into the building. 

He should have been more careful. The sounds of the fight underground, along with his own worry, had him less attentive. His nose was numb with the scent of silver. Yi Fan didn’t notice how the heartbeats had split apart, ever so  slightly . A click sounded through the night and he flitted to the side as the bomb flooded the street with light. He didn’t hear the soft rustle of skin on metal, a finger on a trigger. He heard the bang. It was louder, clearer and in a completely different direction – MOVE. Delayed, Yi Fan twisted. Not enough. Burning pain exploded high up his arm. The force of it sent him stumbling. That was when the bombs went off. Again. 

\---

Consciousness burst back into Tao’s head, his muddy vision clearing. The mirage had shattered. 

“Yi Fan.” He was yanking at the trapdoor, leaping out of the nest before he registered anything else. It didn’t feel like before. The first time Yi Fan had lifted his mirage, it was slow and careful, controlled. Like a collector pulling back the veil on a particularly exquisite piece of art. This time felt like Yi Fan had dropped the veil out of shock. 

Tao took one step away from the nest. The wave of thirst that came with it was so sudden, he almost drowned in his instincts, almost lost his head. 

_ Concentrate. _ He gritted his teeth, the weight of his fangs heavy in his mouth.  _ Don’t lose it. _

Yi Fan was in trouble.  Hopefully , that didn’t mean the rest of them were too. Tao held his breath. That helped. But he could still hear the faint beating of hearts, pumping warm, live, irresistible blood –

_ No don’t think about that. _ By accident, he had pierced his bottom lip with his fangs and the taste of his own blood flooded his mouth. Cold, the flavor was off, but it helped a little. He had to get to Yi Fan before he lost control of this new thing inside him.

\--- 

“Jongdae!” Minseok’s desperate cry yanked Yixing and Joonmyun apart, the medic’s cheeks heating up. When Joonmyun spoke, Yixing could only focus on his lips.

“Minseok, go after him. We’ll manage.” 

When Yixing glanced around, Minseok was no longer in the cramped cell. He snapped back to Joonmyun.

“You all came.”

A half-smile tugged on Joonmyun’s lips, “of course we did.”

In the vortex of Yixing’s swirling thoughts, one pierced through, heavy and important. “Sehun. We need to get him to the hospital –”

“I got him.” Said Luhan. He  carefully worked his hands under Sehun’s back, lifting the human up like one would lift a strand of glass. The wound had stopped bleeding. Vampire venom. “Our venom’s not magic, it won’t heal him.”

“Hey. Lovebirds.” Baekhyun yelled through the walls. “We need to move!”

A split second of hesitation, then Joonmyun turned his back to Yixing, crouching down. Yixing jumped on, locking his arms over Joonmyun’s throat and bringing up his knees. He buried his face in the base of Joonmyun’s neck. He caught Luhan’s mouth moving in his peripheral, saying something meant for Sehun’s ears and Sehun’s ears alone. Yixing wasn’t given more time to wonder about it.  Joonmyun’s body coiled with unnatural strength, a grace that was inhumane, and they blurred out of the room into the dimness of the nest .

\---

There were cops on the ground, in varying states of injury. Yi Fan was on the ground too. He was bleeding. But the only thing that burst from Tao’s lips was a name he despised. 

“Ziwei!” 

She didn’t waver in her aim, stake pointed over Yi Fan’s heart. She was too well-trained to mess around, to gloat in a victory. They both were. If you had the prey in your sights, you killed it first. Tao slammed his foot into her side and she flew off Yi Fan’s prone body with a strangled scream. 

“Oh  _ shit _ Yi Fan.” His fingers cupped Yi fan’s face and red eyes flickered up to his.

“Bullet…” 

Tao gulped, uncertain. “I don’t know how.”

“ Just get it out.” Yi Fan rasped. “Careful with the – FUCK!” 

With no idea how to drag the damn bullet out, Tao’s claws ripped in his shoulder. The bullet clinked to the road… leaving behind a lacerated mess of flesh that dripped with blood. 

“Sorry –  _ sorry _ .” Tao  frantically pressed his hands over the mess as if it would help. He could feel Yi Fan’s flesh knitting back together. “You ok?”

“No.” Yi Fan bolted upright and shook him. “What are you  _ doing _ here –”

“Your mirage dropped and I got worried.” 

Yi Fan’s jaw worked, about to spill a whole bag of anxiety on Tao’s head, when a rustle had their heads snapping around. Ziwei staggered to her feet.

Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail, tangling over her eyes, and she clutched her arms to her ribs. 

“Zitao!” She screeched, breaths coming shallow and harsh. 

“What? No more  _ dear cousin _ ?” He close the gap between them in a flicker of movement. 

She pounced for him with nothing but her bare hands and blunt, human teeth. “Why can’t you just _die_ –”

Tao caught her, claws locked around her throat, and still she struggled, kicking at Tao’s body. Tao didn't even blink. 

“Ziwei, stop.”

“No. Not until you’re dead at my feet –”

“I’m the one with your life in my hands –”

“And you won’t kill me.” Ziwei stopped her thrashing long enough to laugh up at him. It was the type of laugh that left one winded, loud and unrestrained and  utterly deranged. Tears sparkled at the corners of her eyes.

“You’ll never kill me.” She gasped, “you’re too  _ weak _ . But I wasn’t. I killed you first and for the first time in my life my uncle was paying attention to me. Do you know what a  _ miracle _ that was?” 

Tao stayed still, emotionless, as she spat out her words.

“You’re not going to kill me Zitao. I’m going to live and I will hunt you down like the monster you’ve turned into.” 

“You underestimate me.” 

Scoffing, Ziwei’s mouth fell open to laugh, only to freeze in an ‘O’ of shock. Her gasp was a wet gurgle. Tao’s clawed fingers buried themselves in her throat.

“It would be easier if both of us were dead.” 

\--- 

Jongin’s knee crunched into an unfortunate cop’s head.  He whipped out his stake again at a glow of red, relaxing as he recognised Kyungsoo's face under the dim lightning of the nest . 

“They’re coming back.”

Jongin took this moment as a breather, “have they got everyone?” “Yep – get down!” 

Jongin dropped to the floor as Kyungsoo leapt at the rogue that had crept up behind him, shoving it away. It hissed, but it didn’t attack. Instead,  wickedly sharp claws pointed at Jongin.

“You're with a  human .”

“So?” Kyungsoo eyed it  warily , inching closer. 

“ _ They  _ are the ones who force us to hide like thieves and yet you defend them.”

“Well, you guys are assholes.”

“They are the reason we –”

“– are assholes?” Kyungsoo finished for it and it rushed for him with an enraged howl. They tumbled to the floor, a flurry of elbows and knees and snapping fangs. It ended up on top, claws aimed at Kyungsoo’s chest before a swipe of Jongin’s stake had it rolling away. The three returned to their feet, at a standstill. Then a stake appeared in the rogue’s ribs - not Jongin's - coming through its back.  It collapsed, leaving a very stunned Jongin and Kyungsoo staring at an  equally stunned Baekhyun . Baekhyun bent down to retrieve the stake, “ _ damn _ that’s effective.”

“Where the fuck did you get a stake?” Kyungsoo gaped at him.

“On… the floor.  I think a cop dropped it –” He cut off with a grunt. Kyungsoo had punched him  none-too-lightly in the gut.

“You’re alright, you stupid ass."

"I'm feeling the love."

"Where are the others?” 

“Right behind me.” 

“Where’s Min?” 

“With… Jongdae.”

\---

The sweet, heady scent of blood swamped Tao’s senses but for once, it was easy to keep his rationality. He was a frozen statue, made of ice, staring at what he had done. Not even Yi Fan’s arm around his shoulders could turn him away. Her blood had been hot. He thought it would have been cold.

“Tao.” Yi Fan’s voice soothed, “breathe.” 

Tao hadn’t realized he had ever stopped. His lungs worked with an abrupt huff and he could finally tear his eyes away from his cousin’s corpse. 

“I killed her.” Tao gripped Yi Fan’s arms so hard his claws drew red lines on skin.  Jangmi cemetery swam into memory, along with the slicing pain of knives and his own life spilling out on the floor . “She killed  _ me _ . We’re the same –”

“No, no Tao. You are not the same.” Fingers gripped Tao’s jaw, forcing him to look at Yi Fan . “You are not her.”

“But I’m weak.” Wetness welled into Tao’s eyes. “Did she look like this, after she killed me?”

“You have a heart, Tao. That is not a weakness.”

Eventually , Tao calmed. The slide of his fangs and claws disappearing back into his body still made him shiver. Yi Fan released him, fingers trailing up to cup his cheek like they had so many times before. 

“Ok?”

Tao nodded and Yi Fan smiled, still  breath-takingly handsome under all the blood and still-healing burns .  Distracted, the sound of hurried footsteps bursting out of the flower shop whipped them around . Tao caught a glimpse of curled lips, cheeks stained with red tears and –

“Jongdae!” But he was gone, sprinting off into the night with a guilty flicker in his gaze. “Wait –”

“Tao what are you  _ doing _ here?” 

Tao snapped back around to see Minseok standing on the road, feet turned in the direction Jongdae had disappeared . “Captain, Dae’s –”

“I know!”

Yi Fan jerked his head after Jongdae, “go get him, we’ll wait for the rest of them.” 

\--- 

“A little bit more ok Hun?” Luhan’s clothes stuck to his chest, soaked with blood. Sehun's scent would stay with him for days, a reminder of a regret. If he had stayed that night… “We’re almost out.”  Most of the fighting had stopped and the cops were easy to dodge, preoccupied with carrying out the other kidnapped victims . They passed by rogues squirming under nets, still alive, and Luhan couldn’t bring himself to feel pity. He hoped they lived forever in the silver cells of HQ and he hoped they burned. 

Ahead of him, Joonmyun and Yixing disappeared up the trapdoor, along with Kyungsoo and Jongin .  Baekhyun and Chanyeol urged him to go in front of them, their stances still wary and their gazes flicking around the now quiet nest .  As soon as his head escaped the nest, fresh air circulated his nose, driving out the saturated stench of death from below . He looked down at Sehun and smiled. 

“I’ll drop you off at the hospital okay? And I’ll stay there all night.  Tomorrow morning you can wake up and I’ll hold your hand and it’ll be all sappy like those bullshit dramas you humans follow .” 

A feeble puff of breath. A laugh. Sehun’s lips turned up in a smile. 

Carrying Sehun like the most precious thing in the world, Luhan parted from his coven, darting for the hospital’s emergency department . He felt Sehun shiver in his arms and he cursed himself to go faster. Sehun was human and the night was cold. Having a vampire carry him wasn’t helping. 

Luhan slipped into the hospital, catching the attention of the nurse behind the counter . He had to give it to her, her reaction time was fast. She was calling for help faster than Luhan could blink. There were several more moments of alone time, before the medics came crashing down upon them. It wasn’t like Sehun would die. Luhan refused to think of that possibility. Sehun  _ will _ live. Luhan wanted to say some things in private. That was all.

“Sehun I’m sorry.” There was an unfamiliar prickle of heat behind Luhan’s eyes. He would not cry. He refused to cry. He whispered now, keeping them in their own little world. “I wasted so much time.”

Sehun made a small noise of protest, inhales rattling down his throat, and Luhan shushed him. 

“I wasted a year of your life and I can’t fix that, but I can fix things now.” He could hear the medics coming, rolling a gurney with them. “I’ll stay. If you’ll still have me.”

“I love you.” Sehun’s weak murmur sounded so scared, like it was a crime to admit it, and Luhan’s heart shriveled with self-hate. What had he done? What had he said? Wet drops rolled down his cheeks.

“I love you too.”

Sehun grimaced, his voice  barely audible to a human’s ears but Luhan heard it crystal clear. “Was that so hard to say?”

Luhan chuckled, short and low. “Yes.” 

The medics had arrived.

“Lu, leave me.”

“What?” Luhan could only let go, fingers numb, as they took Sehun from him, laying him on the gurney. He clutched Sehun’s hand as they made to wheel him away. “I can’t leave.” 

All those nights when he left Sehun still sleeping in bed. All those afternoons he turned down invitations for coffee, for a walk. Luhan had to fill those empty moments in his life but how was he going to do that if Sehun was gone?

“It’s dangerous here – for you.” Sehun’s murmured. One of the medics stared at Luhan’s eyes, noticing the odd, red sheen. “If you still love me, wait for me.” 

“Sehun –”

“Stay alive and wait for me.”

The medic shrieked in alarm. His fingers spasmed around Sehun’s hand in one final squeeze that held everything he felt. Luhan fled and he didn’t dare look back, afraid that if he did he would never be able to do what Sehun had asked of him.

\---

“Dae wait!” 

“Stop  _ calling me that _ .” Jongdae slammed to a standstill, whirling around. Minseok waited for an attack, for Jongdae to explode again. But Jongdae had slapped his hands over his ears and his face twisted in pain. “Please… don’t call me that anymore.”

Minseok moved  gingerly , afraid he would drive Jongdae away yet again, reaching up to take Jongdae’s hands down . How many times had they stood together in the night, side by side? “I’m sorry.”

Jongdae stared at him. Fresh blood sparkled in his eyes. They were so close that Minseok couldn’t have  possibly misheard Jongdae’s next words.

“I don’t deserve you.” Silence. Jongdae blinked away his tears  angrily and it was like a dam had burst.  “I don’t deserve your care, your love, your attention – I don’t deserve any of it but you kept giving it to me even when I gave nothing back to you .”  He fisted his hands into the hem of his shirt, like he was trying to stop himself from reaching out and taking what comfort Minseok could give . “Don’t you dare say sorry to me.  _ This _ is what I deserve, after what I’ve done.”

“You couldn’t have done anything.” 

“I could have.” Jongdae backed away, small inching steps. “I broke out of that mirage with Xing. I didn’t try hard enough for the others. Minseok… I murdered people. I held them down on that table and all I did was  _watch_ –”

“That,” Minseok grabbed him by the shoulders, “was not your fault.”

“And it’s not  just those people.” Whispered Jongdae, cringing away from his touch and crossing his arms over his chest. “All those vampires, before any of this even started. I didn’t even kill them because I was angry. I liked it and – I was a monster.”

“You didn’t like the killing.” Minseok tried again, managing to take Jongdae’s clawed hands in his. The claws retracted at the contact and Jongdae hung onto his words. “Our squad… it was like family to you.”

This time, Jongdae couldn’t stop the tears. His voice was thick with them. “I missed them.” Minseok couldn’t tell if he meant his real family, his squad or – “ I missed you.” 

“You haven’t lost us. Come with us Dae –” Minseok’s tongue stumbled over Jongdae’s flinch – “come with us.”

“I can’t do that.” Jongdae’s hands slipped out of his. 

“I’ve caused so much shit to your coven.”

“They understand.”

“And I don’t deserve that understanding either.”  He was backing away again, quicker now, and, desperate, Minseok let his thoughts spill from his mouth .  It was a secret he had to keep for so long because Jongdae had been human – a cop of all things – and was completely out of bounds .

“When you asked me that night I wanted to say yes.” Jongdae froze. Minseok dashed forward to crush him in a hug before Jongdae could bolt, ignoring how wrong it felt.  Jongdae should have been warm, his heart should still have been beating and his eyes should never have been able to change colour .  Minseok’s heart almost started to beat again when Jongdae  carefully wrapped his arms around Minseok’s waist . “And you deserve the world for what you’ve been through.” 

Jongdae knocked their foreheads together, lips brushing, and breathed like he would never breathe again . Too strong for Minseok to resist, Jongdae pulled away, “you’ve always been looking for me. This time I’ll look for you.” Jongdae’s feet dragged as he walked away and Minseok fought the urge to chase after him again. 

"I can't go with you. Not like this."

“We’ll be in Changsha.”  _Please. Please come back._

Jongdae’s pace slowed before speeding up again, his last sentence the only thing he left behind. 

“I’ll see you later, captain.” 

\--- 

“Yeol, what are you waiting for?” Baekhyun had his arm looped  securely around Chanyeol’s elbow and had  been pulled to a complete stop. His mate didn’t budge when he tugged. “Everyone’s up there.”

They were still in the nest, the trapdoor open above them. Even in the darkness, Baekhyun could see the glimmer of distress in Chanyeol’s eyes. Softening, Baekhyun reached up to rub under Chanyeol’s ear, trying to soothe. There was that same distance between them again. 

“Chanyeol. What’s wrong?” 

“Baek, I can’t.”

“Look at me,” murmured Baekhyun, “talk to me.” 

“Is Kyungsoo alright?”

The question caught Baekhyun off his feet, answering  confusedly . “He lost his nest but he’s  perfectly fine – Yeol?” Alarmed by the sudden flood of bloody tears, all Baekhyun could do was catch him as his knees buckled. Before he could ask, Chanyeol was gasping, leaning down to tuck his face into Baekhyun’s shoulder. 

“I told them.”

“Who?” Baekhyun drew up blank.

“I told them where Soo’s nest was. It hurt so much and I couldn’t –”

Baekhyun cradled Chanyeol close, letting him sob, as anger started to boil in his chest. Along with the heat came frustration. He hadn’t been there with Chanyeol, he couldn’t help, and now all he could do was hold his mate as he fell apart. Chanyeol was speaking again, muffled by Baekhyun’s shirt.

“I can’t remember anything after that. I could have killed  all of you. I could have killed  you –”

A few hushes had him silent again, receding into sniffles. Out of the corner of Baekhyun’s eye, two heads popped into the opening of the trapdoor above. Kyungsoo and Jongin. They slipped back down, the latter a little  hesitantly . Then Kyungsoo strolled up and whacked Chanyeol over the back of his head with an open palm.

“You stupid –” Kyungsoo cut off with a surprised grunt as Chanyeol tackled him to the floor in a messy hug. Chanyeol’s tears soaked into his clothes instead. 

“You’re ok.”

“Of course I’m ok. I’m tough.” Off to the side, Jongin huffed a laugh at Kyungsoo’s remark. The small sound lifted Chanyeol’s gaze and he wriggled away from Kyungsoo to hug Jongin too. Startled, the human stood there as Chanyeol pulled away. 

The vampire frowned, “are you scared of me?”

“You aren’t scared of  _ me _ ?” 

“Why would I be?”

“Uh. I shoved a sunbomb in your face. Then I shot you. Several times. Then I threw a net over Baekhyun. And you too actually.” Jongin ducked his head, scratching the back of his neck. “Have you… met Jongdae?”

“Yeah. You’re Jongin right?”

“And you’re Chanyeol… right?” Jongin smiled  tentatively . “ I think your coven is waiting for you, outside.”

\---

They were waiting. The buzz of more patrol cars came closer. By tomorrow this incident would be the only thing everyone was going to talk about.  Jongin wondered how much coverage the creep would get, how accurate AVPF’s information would be . Kyungsoo set him back down on his feet a few blocks away. A glimpse of movement. It was Tao, a tight smile on his face as he waved at Jongin. His best friend melted away into the shadows, Yi Fan tailing behind.

Louder steps, less graceful actions, and Yixing stumbled into him.  Worried at how much weight the medic could support by himself, Jongin gripped him around the waist as they hugged . 

“Xing you’re an idiot.”

Yixing only laughed his small laugh, but his gaze was sharp and knowing. He definitely knew how Jongin felt, what he was about to do. The coven around them dissipated, smooth steps carrying them away into the night. Joonmyun tapped Yixing’s shoulder and Yixing too disappeared. Jongin found himself alone, in the middle of a late-night street with Kyungsoo.

“Wait, wait – Kyungsoo wait.” Jongin resisted the cool grip on his wrist. Kyungsoo’s quizzical face was back, eyebrows raised in question. “Where are you going?”

“Out of Korea, we can’t stay here.” Kyungsoo laced their hands together and pulled  lightly . “ Probably back to China, Changsha. You’ll be safe there too.”

Jongin stayed rooted against Kyungsoo’s insistence, shaking his head with a sad smile. “Soo. I can’t go.” He could see the effect those three words had on his lover’s – were they even lovers? – face.  Kyungsoo's irises sparked crimson, and when he spoke Jongin  desperately recorded his velvet tones to memory . 

“You’ve already made up your mind.” It wasn’t a question. Jongin nodded and let his fingers relax, no longer clutching onto the vampire. 

“Sehun will still be here, Dae will too and I… I’m not sure if I’m ready.”  _ Ready to love you. _ Jongin had known Kyungsoo for less than a month and only half of that time was actually spent  _ knowing _ him. And through it all, his world had  been tipped on its side and rolled over uneven ground. He had lost his squad. He had run from headquarters, the only home he ever knew. Kyungsoo had been there, calm and unmovable in the midst of a storm. Jongin was afraid he had mistaken the comfort he had felt as… something else.

Yes, he loved their banter, their sweet moments. But did he love Kyungsoo? 

_ Yes. _ Was his immediate thought.  Heart lips and wide eyes came to mind along with a rather blunt personality, streaked with protectiveness . 

_ I’m not sure... _  came second, more rational.  Kyungsoo would have experienced this before, these emotions, but Jongin was human and young . He had one life and he wanted to make sure he lived it right, not  just for himself but for Kyungsoo too. What would happen to Kyungsoo if Jongin left halfway because he made the wrong choice? Vampires could feel. Vampires could fall in love. The next words stuck in Jongin’s throat, clumsy and bulky.

“Soo, you’ve – you’ve made me see things, made me learn and you opened up things I never would have tried to touch.” Jongin swallowed, returning Soo’s stare with every ounce of feeling he could muster. “And for that, I love you. I  just … I  just haven’t had enough  _ time _ .” 

Jongin counted his own breaths. He got up to six when Kyungsoo finally moved, stepping forwards until their toes touched. He tilted his chin up to lock their gazes. 

“The past weeks were but a blink in my eyes.” He breathed  deeply , taking in Jongin’s scent.  Jongin cursed the harsh lighting of the streetlamps – he wanted to see Kyungsoo  properly one more time . “I can wait. I have time.”

“What if…” Jongin’s breath ghosted between them, “I change? What if I don’t love you, not in the way I do now?”

“Things change, Jongin. Whether you want them to or not.” Kyungsoo flashed his heart-smile, a little brittle around the edges. “You have one life and I’ve already fucked it up. You can’t go back to AVPF. You can’t go back to university. You can’t even dance anymore. You’ll  be hunted like one of us.”

“That was my choice.” 

“Whatever it was, a life is a life and you should live it.” Cold fingers cupped Jongin’s jaw, “I’m dead. Tying yourself to something like me is a choice that takes time to make.” He made a surprised sound, unprepared for sudden warmth to envelop him. Jongin hugged him  fiercely , head buried in the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck.

“Some one . Soo, you may be dead and a whole lot of other things but you’re not some goddamned monster.”

A velvety laugh was the only reply he got, accompanied by velvety lips against his own. This time, their noses didn’t bump.  They slotted together like matching puzzle pieces, until Kyungsoo  gently but  firmly peeled them apart . Jongin’s breath alone misted in the late autumn air. 

“Changsha.”

“What?” 

Kyungsoo spoke  quickly ,  softly . “We’ll be in Changsha. Find us along the river.” He hesitated. Jongin gave him the most radiant grin he could muster.

“Go.  Just go. I’ll find you again, so go.”

“Even if you change your mind?”

Jongin nodded and lifted his hand, sticking out his pinky. Kyungsoo’s fingers slid against his as they promised. A fleeting smile. Heart lips. Then Kyungsoo was gone. 

Jongin stood long after Kyungsoo dissolved into the night, watching the clouds of his breath drift away . Heated tracks flowed over his cheeks. When had he started to cry? He let them drip off his chin, dotting his jacket with dark spots.  White drifted into his vision, small specks illuminated by the street lamps, floating to the floor .  He turned his face towards the city sky, devoid of stars except for a weak glimmer, and let the snow fall on his skin, pinpricks of coldness . He checked his phone. First of September. Wasn’t it still a little too early for snow? He guessed Kyungsoo was right. It was colder this year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go! Thank you to all readers!  
> :3 Comments >w< Kudos ^0^


	16. Miracles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit. It's done. And yes I lied when I said I was updating on Sunday sorry T.T

**Two years later...**

 

 

Jongin smiled at the lady who had taken a seat at the bar next to him. It wasn’t a suggestive smile, no quirk to his lips that promised more to the night than it should. She struck up a conversation. Jongin ended it with a few polite words and another smile. He bought himself a drink. As she walked off, a few other men peel away from the dance floor – drawn by her too-low neckline and too-high skirt. Not Jongin’s type. It took him a while to figure out he had no type other than heart-lips, wide eyes and a chilling glare.

His phone vibrated then, a short buzz coming from his pocket, and he slipped it out, not needing to check who it was before answering.

“Hey.”

A relieved sigh whispered into his ear, barely audible behind the beats of the night club. “You made it back ok?”

“Completely fine, I’ll have to ditch this burner phone soon though. Get a new one.”

“I’ve got one, I’m coming in now.” 

Jongin didn’t react when someone took that lady’s seat and threw an arm around him. He only sighed and pushed over his drink.

“I don’t even know why I ordered this.”

“Why do you always order things you can’t handle?” Sehun grinned and tipped back the glass. “Anyways, I told Jongdae to meet us in the rooms.”

“And what, may I ask, are those rooms usually used for?” Jongin raised his eyebrows.

“I won’t know what they’re used for normally, but today it’s a feeding ring.”

“Is there anything you know that’s not illegal somehow?”

“Not really, no.” Sehun had finished the drink. “Do you think he’s here yet?”

“Might as well go check.” 

Sehun was easy to follow, even when he stopped pulling on Jongin’s sleeve. It wasn’t just because Sehun was tall, or the fact that he had dyed his hair _bright orange_ , but Jongin had made a decent amount of progress in height himself. He could see over peoples’ heads, and it usually meant he stuck out walking around in the daytime but in the dimness and chaos of flashing lights it was godsend.

“Can we just walk in? We’re human.”

“I’m special.”

“Do I want to know?”

Sehun unlocked the door to the backrooms with a key from his pocket. “I kinda work for them.”

“WHAT –”

“Not as a feeder and,” he pointed at Jongin, “not so loudly. There are vamps in there.”

“What do you mean you _work_ here, I leave for a year and what the hell have you been doing?” Jongin’s hissed whisper made Sehun wince as he re-locked the door behind them. Sehun’s grip returned on Jongin’s sleeve and he lead him into the first free room. Jongdae didn’t seem to be here yet, or he’d already have found them.

“Jongin _not so loud_ – and I work in this company thing.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“Irene introduced it to me.”

“ _Irene_!?”

Sehun plopped down onto the bed in the corner and motioned for Jongin to sit. Jongin stayed standing with his arms crossed over his chest. “What is this company thing?”

“This company thing got us very real fake passports and plane tickets to Changsha.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a very safe workplace.”

“Answer me Oh Sehun.”

Sehun relented. “It’s a company owned by vampires who employ people to do stuff for them.” He shrugged, “how do you think Luhan and the others travel around without getting caught? They need us to get them birth certificates and identities as well.”

Jongin scowled, but before he could say anything, Sehun was throwing up his hands to cut him off. “I kept myself strictly in the no-blood side of the business. I wasn’t in any danger… I think.”

“And what did Irene have to do with this?” Jongin hadn’t seen her for a while and he couldn’t piece together her shyness with someone like Sehun. “Is she still in AVPF?”

“She got promoted last year, took Ziwei’s spot on surveillance after barely passing the combat test.” Sehun said. “AVPF caught some humans forging medical papers, she tracked them back to this company and dropped me some information.”

Giving up, Jongin fell onto the bed next to his friend. “What’s this company called?”

“S.M.”

“Is that it?”

“Yeah.” They went silent.

 

The doorknob rattled and they bolted upright. Sehun’s thoughts instantly jump to tied hands and a tiny cell but he swallowed down the memories and got up to let Jongdae in.

“You’re late today.”

“Had to make a detour.” Jongdae had flecks of snow in his hair, but his shirt was sleeveless and his jeans were ripped. “Cops patrolling outside – hey Jongin.” He never was the one for hugs, even in life, but he accepted one from Jongin, noticing how the human shivered.

“Would it hurt to wear more clothes?”

“It won’t make me any warmer.” Jongdae grinned at him as they broke away, “we’re all here so I assume that Sehun’s finally got what we need.”

“Yes I do.” The three of them sat cross-legged on the floor and Sehun took out an envelope, emptying the contents on the floor between them. Jongin and Jongdae went for the two small books with ‘Republic of Korea’ stamped over the front. Passports. After scanning through his, Jongin leaned over to peek at Jongdae’s and laughed. Kim Kai and Kim Chen.

“My name sounds weird.” Jongdae whined, “and where did you get that photo from?” He froze for a second at the answer.

“Your AVPF files.” Sehun said, hurriedly pulling out the tickets for their flight. “And here we go. Three seats to Changsha, China Southern Airlines.”

Jongin picked up the simple pieces of paper with reverence. The past two years had been a rollercoaster of anxiety, constantly taking unassuming jobs and staying under AVPF’s radar. But with this…

“I also got Xing’s phone number.” Sehun turned his phone towards them so they could see his texts and call logs. None of them were more than a week old but –

“What kind of name is _Lay_?”

“We can tease him about it when we see him.” Satisfied smirk on his face, Sehun checked the time. “I told Xing to keep it a secret – do you want him to tell them?”

“NO!”

“No don’t.”

Jongdae and Jongin looked panicked, Sehun knew the feeling. He didn’t want Luhan to know he was coming either. “We need to leave soon if we want to catch that plane.”

“Ah, shit.”

“What?”

“I forgot I had an appointment with a feeder later tonight.” Jongdae shrugged. “I’ll have to text them, say I’m ditching.”

“Woah wait, are you thirsty?”

Jongdae fixed Sehun with a flat glare. “Yes. And why is it, whenever we meet, I end up biting one of you?”

“Because,” Sehun stretched and patted him on the head, “you hate biting people in general so I guess it kind of helps?” He pulled back his hand with a yelp at a flash of Jongdae’s fangs.

“It really doesn’t.” But it did and they knew it. Sehun and Jongin engaged in a fierce battle of rock, paper scissors. Sehun lost.

He pointed Jongin out of the room, “there’s bandaids and stuff out there.”

Rolling his eyes, Jongin left.

 

* * *

 

 

There was something about parks that made them gravitate towards it and, as always, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had been the last ones to arrive. They came smelling of each other and neither bothered to cover it up, smiling serenely back at Luhan’s disgusted face. Still, not everything was the same. Yi Fan no longer sat on the grass alone, Tao settled next to him as they shared earphones. Baekhyun could hear faint rapping. Before, when there was only silence, Yixing’s heartbeat filled the emptiness. 

Yixing was shivering, swathed in thick jackets, a scarf and gloves. It was winter again and everything had frosted over with a light sheen of ice. The vampires didn’t mind, walking around in shirts and light pants, but that didn’t mean they weren’t fussing over their one resident human. Joonmyun had hot packs and his arm slung over Yixing’s shoulder as they sat on the park bench, watching Minseok and Luhan kick a ball between them. Kyungsoo was keeping score – or at least he was pretending to. 

They stayed in comfortable quiet, until Joonmyun stood up with Yixing in tow.

“Let’s go before you catch a cold.”

“I’m fine.” Yixing’s smile was sweet, endearing and pale with the cold. “Really I –” He cut off with a sigh as Joonmyun picked him up, so used to the motion by now. They waved goodbye and left. Groaning, Luhan caught the ball between his foot and the ground.

“Well shit. There goes the two decently responsible ones.” He kicked the ball back to Minseok, “I’m leaving now, before the happy couples decide to start making out.”

“Take me with you.” Kyungsoo jumped to his feet at Baekhyun’s evil laughter, shrugging at Minseok’s betrayed expression. “Have fun Minseok.” They fled.

\---

Outside, the coat battled against the cold. Inside, it prevented heat from sinking into his skin. Yixing wriggled out of the heavy wool, sighing happily at the warm air of their nest and rubbing his hands up and down his arms. Joonmyun flitted ahead of him, dim lights flicking on through their nest. Gathering up his shoes and setting them on the shoe rack, Yixing followed. 

Living in a nest wasn’t much different from living anywhere else for Yixing. He still spent most of his day at the hospital. Sometimes he fell asleep there, working overnight, into the morning and back into the night again. When he came back, it didn’t bother him that he couldn’t open a window to see the stars. He much preferred to walk through their home and pick up on all the small things that made it theirs.

A blanket folded on the sofa, coffee-stained cups and stacked reports. A shared wardrobe, one where only they could tell whose clothes were whose. Yixing pulled out his phone as he walked to their bedroom, chilled fingers sliding across the cracked screen. He had fallen asleep with it in hand and it met its unfortunate fate against the floor. Only one unread text:

_Just touched down._

“What are you smiling about?” Coolness pressed against Yixing’s back, but unlike the biting cold from outside, Yixing welcomed Joonmyun’s embrace. Yixing smiled his dreamy smile and leaned back to place a kiss on Joonmyun’s jaw.

“Just thinking.”

“Is it something I should be worried about?”

Yixing thought for a moment. Those three _were_ quite the handful weren’t they? He petted absentmindedly at the fabric of Joonmyun’s sleeves. It was one of Yixing’s knitted sweaters.

“Xing?”

The medic turned in Joonmyun’s arms, fingers hooking into the knitted fabric over Joonmyun’s chest as he shook his head. “You’ll know about it tomorrow.”

Joonmyun raised an eyebrow but let it pass. They rarely kept anything from each other, so if Yixing thought it had to wait then it would. It had been two years and they were still perfectly in sync, and right now, Yixing could tell something was off. He slid his hands up Joonmyun’s back to rub at the tension in his shoulders.

“Are our neighbours upstairs being inconsiderate again?”

“I’m quite sure they have no idea there’s a vampire down here.” Joonmyun smiled, “that would be a cause for concern.” He winced at what Yixing assumed to be a particularly loud noise. “And you can hardly blame them for being the healthy young couple they are.”  

When Yixing caught his jaw and stroked a thumb over his lips, Joonmyun shivered at the stare his lover fixed on him. It was the same one that had pierced him that first day at the café, the one that had seen straight past his human mask and didn’t judge. Sharp, intense and thrilling. Joonmyun would obey without a second thought.

“Would you like a distraction?”

Joonmyun’s gaze slid away, a reaction Yixing knew he used to compensate for his inability to blush. Tightening his grip, Yixing turned Joonmyun’s attention back to him, smiling as the vampire complied.

“I asked you a question, Joon.” He watched as Joonmyun blinked his eyes to a faint sheen of red.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?” It had taken them a while, but they’d eventually figured it out. What they liked, what flipped the switch for them under the sheets. It wouldn’t take a genius to understand why Joonmyun shivered at Yixing’s voice, so different to the sleepy softness of his every day speech. Joonmyun licked his lips and bowed his head.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.” Yixing released him, pushing slightly, and the smile faded. “Get on the bed. Keep the sweater on.”

\---

Luhan returned to his apartment alone. Yes. Apartment. Not a nest this time. The thing was, Changsha was almost twenty times bigger than Seoul, less people too. Control here was pretty shit. No checkups on apartments and buildings, half the companies didn’t require a medical certificate proving you were mirage free (and more importantly, if you were alive). It was easier here, and none of it was going to change anytime soon, not with so many vampires in high ranks of society. 

He would have gotten a nest but it was pretty damn near to Joon’s, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near that weird kinky shit they were into, thank you very much. 

Lost in his thoughts, Luhan stomped up the stairs. He was halfway up when he smelled it. His head snapped up. Then he was flying up the last half of stairs. Impossible. He’d just been feeling down lately, it had just passed two years after all and – he didn’t dare to hope. 

His rush screeched to a stop, toes glued to the last step leading to his floor. The scent was stronger here. He breathed it like he had been drowning. His frozen heart turning flops behind his ribs, Luhan shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled forwards as if he hadn’t a care in the world. 

The first thing Luhan saw of Sehun was orange hair. Orange. Strands of it fell across the human’s forehead as he whipped around to stare. Luhan stared back, letting his gaze trail down to Sehun’s toes. Sehun had gotten taller – was that even possible? – and he’d filled out more, put some muscle on those bones. Sehun looked… well. He looked well. Luhan couldn’t quite manage to keep the tremble out of his voice.

“You made me wait for a fucking long time.”

“Shut up and come hug me.”

And Luhan did. He jumped so he could loop his arms over Sehun’s shoulders and squeezed so tightly the human couldn’t breathe.

“You actually came back.”

“You waited for me.”

“Of course I waited for you, you fuck.” Luhan said, scowling, their faces inches apart. “Also your hair’s stupid. I’ll do mine orange too.”

“What about blue?”

“Let’s do rainbow. I don’t give a shit, let’s do everything.” Because Sehun was here and Luhan could fill up the time he had lost.

“I’ve made a bucket list of stuff I want to do together.”

“Is it cute, sappy couple stuff?”

“Some of it.”

“What’s first?” Luhan smirked, inching up on his toes so their noses brushed. He had an inkling about the top spot on Sehun’s to-do list, they were pretty single-minded when they came to it. He let Sehun tip his head back, revelling in the heat he had missed for so long when they kissed. Luhan hooked his arms more firmly around Sehun’s neck and lifted his feet to lock around the human’s waist. He felt Sehun stumble, the hard surface of his apartment door crashing into his back as Sehun righted himself and still they stayed locked together.

“Keys…” Luhan managed to gasp between them, “back pocket.”

Sehun’s hands slid down his sides to grope at his ass, long fingers squeezing into the back pocket of his skinny jeans. Moaning into Sehun’s mouth, Luhan pulled back to lick their saliva off their lips and Sehun almost dropped the keys. They had to part when Sehun leaned over to unlock the door, so Luhan attacked his neck instead, sucking warm flesh between blunt teeth and hearing Sehun’s breath catch. The door opened. Sehun staggered inside with Luhan still clinging to his hips. Somewhere in the back of his head, Luhan heard the door slam shut. Then Sehun was slamming _him_ into the closest wall and –

“God I’ve missed you.”

Sehun laughed, breathless. “Aww, missed you too honey –”

“Shut up. Let’s fuck.”

“The bed –”

“The bed can go fuck itself.”

\---

Kyungsoo wanted to keep busy and usually, he was. Between studying (he _will_ get through uni at least once this century dammit), taking shifts at a coffee shop and messing around with his coven, Kyungsoo found himself blissfully occupied. Tonight, however, he was distressingly free of distraction.

He lived in the apartment block to Luhan’s left, opting – like most of them had – for a more normal home to come back to. The light wasn’t so bad when he drew his heavy curtains shut. He wanted to clear his head. 

So he took the long way back, detouring to the coffee shop for a take-away cup and smiling in recognition at the worker behind the counter. Changsha was different from Seoul, more lax, and the guy didn’t bat an eye at how under-dressed Kyungsoo was for the cold. He probably had his suspicions. Kyungsoo didn’t have to worry about it. 

The scent of coffee, rich and heavy, blanketed his senses and blocked out the stale smell of the elevator as he shot up to his floor. Sipping his drink as he walked, he didn’t notice the figure sitting cross-legged on the floor outside his door until he was practically on top of it. Recognition punched him in the gut and he almost dropped scalding hot coffee all over Jongin’s sleeping face. 

Jongin looked just as he did two years ago when he was asleep. Kyungsoo sank to his knees beside him, every movement unnaturally jerky and fast. He dug his claws into his palms, prickling pain assuring him that this was, in fact, reality.

“Jongin.” He murmured, not daring to reach out and touch. “Jongin?”

A flutter of eyelashes and human eyes  focused on his, fading between glazed and disorientated. Then they widened in surprise and Jongin jerked back with a startled gasp. Kyungsoo caught the back of his head before it could smack into the door behind him.

“Careful.”

“Soo!” Awake, the shadows under Jongin’s eyes and the tired turn of his lips was more pronounced. He looked older. Kyungsoo didn’t get more time to study him because hot arms curled around his waist and Jongin pulled himself up to hug. The human froze halfway, his shyness bleeding through his sleep-muddled brain, and Kyungsoo completed the action, leaving his coffee somewhere on the floor behind him.

“You actually came to find me.”

“We made a promise didn’t we?” Jongin said, his voice muffled in Kyungsoo shoulder. They release each other, keeping their hands clasped as they stood up and –

“Oh god you’ve grown.”

“Two years is a long time for a human like me.”

“Was it enough time?” _for you to decide?_ The promise was, after all, only promise to meet up again regardless of Jongin’s decision. For all this time, Kyungsoo had never doubted that he would meet Jongin again. But for _this_ …

“It was more than enough time.” Jongin’s head dipped so he could study the floor. A flush had started high on his cheeks and low on his neck. Kyungsoo listened to his heartbeats getting faster and faster. Warm hands squeezed his. “And I… tried some things, I got everything in me sorted out. I’ve had enough time and nothing’s changed.”

“So you still love me?” Kyungsoo asked unthinkingly, numb with disbelief. He had known humans with relationship spans shorter than two years, let alone feeling love. 

Jongin stuttered for his words, trying to get his mouth to sync with his brain. “It wasn’t exactly _love_ love yet, but like – I like you. I’ve said that before… right?”

Yes he had. Under the umbrella in the rain. In the dance studio. In the feeding rings. Kyungsoo remembered them all.

“So I was thinking if we hung out more then it would really be like – real – for real love.”

“A normal relationship?” Kyungsoo’s heart-lips bloomed into a smile, “we can try that.”

“Ha. Normal.”

“Stay with me.”

“What?”

“Do you have a place to stay here?”

Jongin nodded, “I came with Dae and Hun, we booked in at a hotel.”

“I’m taking a wild guess here but it’s a cheap ass hotel isn’t it?”

“Well…”

“Let’s go get your stuff.” And with that, Kyungsoo hooked their elbows together and started off back to the elevator. Behind him on the floor, his coffee cooled, forgotten.

\---

With only the five of them left in the park, they decided they could up the noise level. There was no one around, living or dead, to hear them anyways. So Baekhyun didn’t hold back on his shriek of surprise as his legs were kicked out from under him, sending him sprawling on the frosty grass. He scowled at the night sky until Tao’s triumphant face blocked the view.

“You’re good at the silence thing goddammit.”

“Still weaker than you.” Tao pouted, holding out his hand. Baekhyun grasped it and right himself, dusting flecks of ice from his clothes.

“It doesn’t really matter who’s stronger if –” Not paying attention, a shadow slipped up behind him, claws coming to rest against his throat. “YEOL I WASN’T READY!”

Deep laughter rang through the silence and Baekhyun turned, snarling and snapping his fangs playfully at his mate’s fingers. Chanyeol pulled away hastily.

“I need those to play guitar!”

“You were interrupting a very important lesson I was giving to our youngest coven member.”

“He’s been fighting vamps for years – see, look.”

A faint blur of movement flickered over Tao’s shoulder, but unlike one very inattentive Baekhyun, Tao heard it coming.

He ducked out of the way, flitting backwards as Minseok pounced for him again. Tao didn’t see Yi Fan coming until blunt nails caught the back of his shirt. Tao was yanked backwards. He managed to get himself a fistful of Yi Fan’s collar at the last split second and they both went crashing to the ground.

 

Tao’s knack for fighting won over Yi Fan’s superior speed as they grappled. Minseok joined Baekhyun and Chanyeol off to the side and they watched, amused, as Tao wrestled down his mate in five seconds flat. With Tao straddling his torso and his wrists pinned down either side of his head, Yi Fan groaned.

“Dammit.”

Tao leaned down enough to grin at him, some sort of smug comment forming on his tongue. He didn’t manage to get it past his lips because Yi Fan had craned his neck up to kiss him. The rate at which Tao melted into a puddle of defenceless goo was alarming. Tao let Yi Fan’s hands go, Yi Fan sat up, then –

“Woah! Public area guys!”

“Stop – stop!” Chanyeol hooked Tao up and off Yi Fan by the armpits and Baekhyun had grabbed Yi Fan by the ears. At least Yi Fan had the decency to look embarrassed. Tao wriggled until Chanyeol let go of him and went straight back to plop himself down next to Yi Fan.

“And I think that’s my cue to go.” Minseok was already out of the park, running from Tao’s smirk and that awful feeling of fifth-wheeling. Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Baekhyun slid back to Chanyeol’s side.

“Let’s go home too?”

 

They left Tao and Yi Fan to their own devices, walking back under streetlamps and dark spots. As they went, Chanyeol hummed a random tune, fingers tapping to whatever drumbeat he imagined in his head. Chanyeol’s voice never ceased to enchant Baekhyun, from the first time he heard Chanyeol sing as a performer at a harvest festival so long ago. Change was something you got used to as a vampire, and he hadn’t expected Chanyeol to stay in his heart for so long. Long enough to try for forever. Long enough to be mates. Even after Chanyeol’s turning, Baekhyun expected them to burn out after the first century or so. But even as music morphed through the ages, like it did from renaissance to baroque to classical to romantic; Chanyeol had stayed. 

Curling tighter against Chanyeol’s arm, Baekhyun smiled.

\---

Even though the winter around them didn’t feel cold and their hearts didn’t beat like it did for the living, Tao was alive in the most exhilarating way. The heaviness he had carried in his chest for so long had slowly eased off in the past two years, allowing him to take his first proper breath, one he hadn’t been able to take when he needed it. He sprawled on the grass next to Yi Fan, icy grass crunching underneath him. 

The earphones made a reappearance. With music playing in his ear, Tao finally worked himself up enough to say it.

“Xing is thinking about forever.” _About turning_. It surprised Tao, how Yi Fan didn’t even open his eyes.

“That isn’t a surprise.”

Tao fiddled with the hem of his shirt. How was he going to say this… “He gets to choose.”

Eyes flickering open red, Yi Fan tilted his head to study his mate. Tao’s previous grin melted into something softer, a small shape of lips that meant happiness, sadness, nostalgia and fondness all at the same time. “Does it bother you, that you didn’t have a choice?”

“No! I didn’t mean it like that.” Tao whacked him on the shoulder. “I just thought… it would be scary wouldn’t it? To have to choose instead.”

“Worried?”

“Of course I am.”

“It takes time, to trust someone enough to do it.” Yi Fan rolled onto his side and propped his head up on one hand. “If you had given me two years, would you have trusted me to turn you?”

“Yes.” Tao answered immediately before making a face. “It’s just… dying doesn’t sound like fun.” What he didn’t say was how it would be worth it. He didn’t have to. Yi Fan knew him. “I guess Xing will always know what he’s doing.”

 

They lapsed into silence, broken only when Tao blurted out.

“I don’t regret it. Even though I didn’t choose.”

Yi Fan’s lips curled into a smile. “You've said it before.”

“Hate you.”

“Love you too.”

Like this, close but not quite touching, Tao felt at peace. Even the stars, veiled by a thin layer of pollution, seemed brighter than they ever were when he was human. The park around them frosted over as the night continued, like a white rose blooming. Like a ghost’s blessing.

\---

Minseok glanced around the street curiously. Something hovered in the air, a ribbon of scent that he couldn’t quite catch, but he shrugged it off. Changsha’s patrols were a lot more careless than the ones in Seoul. Unlike some of his coven, Minseok opted once again for a nest. There was always a sense of safety in the darkness, from when he was young and roamed solely at night, denied access to homes lit by fires and filled with the sounds of the living.

Whilst Kyungsoo and Luhan had always preferred a small place for themselves, Minseok preferred his companions. Joonmyun did too, and with Yi Fan’s own troubles the three usually ended up with each other. But things change, as they always did, and this time Minseok had no problems with the solitude. 

He chucked on a different shirt, made coffee. All the mundane motions he was used to doing. Then came a soft knock. No one from his coven knocked. His cup clicked down on the table and he stared up at the trapdoor that led onto the street above. He heard a deep breath. That scent hit him the same time that voice reached his ears and Minseok was throwing open the trapdoor halfway through his visitor’s timid ‘hello.’

 

The face framed through the opening was different. Not in the physical sense, vampires couldn’t change much after all. There was a softness to that face that wasn’t there before, that stiffness in his jaw gone. Jongdae still had his arm extended in frozen surprise.

“Dae.” Minseok breathed. Everything stopped for a time, enough for several heartbeats but all they got was silence. Then Minseok stepped back and beckoned, “come in?”

Jongdae’s throat moved as he swallowed and nodded. It was only then, as Jongdae lowered himself down into his nest that Minseok realized. It was Jongdae. And Jongdae had come to find him. 

Minseok gave him some space, the silence filled with bubbling water and the clink of porcelain as he made another cup of coffee. Jongdae had to make the first move and they both knew it. It was only when Minseok was handing him his cup that Jongdae finally said something.

“I found you.” He stared down, fixated on the coffee. “I’ve had some time. I think it was pretty clear, when I left, what I had always felt for you.”

Minseok kept his mouth shut and his expression neutral. Let Jongdae speak.

“And I guess I always knew what you felt in return. But after what happened to – what I’ve…” He trailed off. Minseok took the cup from him before it could shatter in his grip.

“It’s ok Jongdae, you can say it.”

“After what I’ve become I thought it would change.” Jongdae lifted his head. “It sounds horrible when I say it, but I thought the thirst would change me. I learned how to feed, how to cast a mirage, how to hunt. I thought I would change but I still felt… human.”

Minseok set Jongdae’s cup down next to his.

“Minseok. I missed you.” And that was the end of Minseok’s restraint. He turned, extending his arms but not daring to go all the way, afraid he’d chase Jongdae off again. When Jongdae leaned into the hug willingly, he let out a sigh of relief.

“I missed you too.”

“You did?”

“You didn’t think I would?”

Jongdae shook his head, nestled on Minseok’s shoulder. “You must have met so many people before I was even born. There had to be someone who was better than me who you’ve left before. Or they’ve left you.”

“If any of them had asked me to wait two years I would have left.” Minseok ducked down to press a kiss under Jongdae’s ear. His whisper was crystal clear. “I would wait forever for you.”

“We have forever.”

Fingers weaved into Jongdae’s hair and he let Minseok tip his head back. Minseok’s lips slid down his jaw and found his mouth with a soft nip of teeth. This one was a proper kiss, their first one, and they felt warm under each other’s palms. They didn’t need break away to gasp, hell they didn’t even need to breathe. Their kiss could have been forever and neither would have cared. But eventually, Minseok pulled back just enough to speak. Jongdae could feel his lips move.

“Forever is ours. I’d be yours forever if you’d let me.”

Jongdae laughed. “I’d be yours too if you can handle me, captain.”

"Then forever it is." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnd it's done!  
> Wow this took a long time. Didn't expect it to be over 100000 words jesus cHriSt. I like to think that after they all meet up, Sehun and Luhan get a job somewhere together cos Sehun's finished uni. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Tao and Kris get involved with music, start composing songs and maybe sing a little here and there, enough to make their voice known but their faces still hidden. Kai gets his life back in Changsha again with Kyungsoo tutoring him. He goes to dance. Strangely it isn't Yixing but Sehun who decides on forever first and for the 24 hours it took for him to wake up again, none of them had ever felt so scared. Yixing would still work at the hospital. He would be there even after he turned and he'd be there for longer still, with Joonmyun behind him every step of the way. Have I missed anyone? Oh yeah. Xiumin and Chen will travel. They'd make up for everything they'd missed when Jongdae was still alive and more. There is no big deal when they start to think of each other as mates.  
> No matter where they went, the twelve would always end up together again.  
> Because goddammit I entered this fandom late and I only ever knew exo ot9 (now temporarily ot8)  
> Did anyone guess my otp (there's two >.<)?
> 
> ALSO I DID PROMISE SMUT IN THE TAGS. And I shall deliver. I don't know when though, but it'll be added on to the end of this as extra chapters? Or they'd be written as one shots that can be read stand-alone I'm not sure... I have a lot of ideas :)
> 
> AND LASTLY Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this long ass fic. *applaud for people who read the whole thing because holy crap that's a lot to read*
> 
> P.S. For reference to Yixing's looks... watch how he studies the poor little trainees in Idol Producer (Chinese version of produce 101)
> 
> Weird side note fact: most of this was handwritten, like all the original scene plans and stuff was in a notebook before I typed it up and refined it. T.T i like the smell of pen...

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably be 20 plus chaps long... (WELP IT ENDED UP BEING 16...)  
> Update schedule:  
> \- Fridays  
> Please leave comments (and kudos kekekekeke)  
> \- Srsly hit me with the comments. My beta reader is busy and has a life and I can't proof read for life so...  
> :))))))


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